Heads, our US corporations get to exploit Ukraine’s vast resources...
Tails, 90% of life on earth is burned to ash, and we start again from the stone age.
“The use of nuclear forces is an extreme measure to protect the country’s sovereignty,” Putin began his 4-minute statement. “Today, the nuclear triad remains the most important guarantee to ensure the security of our state and citizens… At the same time, we see that the modern military political situation is changing dynamically.” For that reason, Putin announced, Russia’s proposed new nuclear doctrine states that “aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with a participation or support of a nuclear state, should be considered a joint attack on the Russian Federation.” [from the Schiller Institute, 26 September 2024]
For 70 years, the US House of Representatives has shirked its Constitutional responsibility to act as the sole agency in matters of war and peace. (It has been more politically expedient to let the Commander in Chief take on the controversy.) Every President since Truman has received the extra-Constitutional authority with hand-wringing glee. Our CIA launched covert military actions in dozens of countries across the globe. Undeclared wars in Korea, Quemoy and Matsu, the Cuban blockade, Vietnam, Laos, Nicaragua, Grenada, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Gaza. Now there is Ukraine.
During the Cold War, there was a long series of proxy confrontations between the US and the Soviet Union. All the while, both sides were careful to give a wide berth to the nuclear threshold. There was a red telephone in the Oval Office, just in case our back channel communications with the Kremlin miscalculated.
Today the back channels are silent. The red telephone is gone. Congress is AWOL. Our President is past his sell-by date. Somewhere in back offices of the White House, the same people who are feeding Biden ice cream are playing nuclear chicken in Ukraine.
Can you imagine more hubris than to think it is their place to titrate the risk of nuclear annihilation against the projected economic gains for their capital investments?
In this time of world-destroying madness, neither political party is stepping forward with a vision of peace. The coolest head in the room is Putin’s.
It was Henry Kissinger who brought to Washington the concept of nuclear game theory. He argued that if we could convince our enemy that we were a little bit crazy, we could get them to back down first.
What happens if two are playing that game? Let’s not find out.
Today we must speak about the unspeakable. Talk to your neighbor. Talk to your family. Talk to your Congressional representative. Call Washington. Call the White House. Call off World War III.
Thanks Josh. I also pray for guidance, and meditate upon visualizing paths forward for our societies, that become more peaceful and cooperative.
The fingers-near-the-button seem to know "the cost of everything and the value of nothing".