Papa has tried to advise you to have less anxiety around the whole COVID epedemic. I may as well take a crack at thermonuclear war. Don’t allow old Putin’s recent rants scare your too much. Peace through strength still makes sense. Threats by bullies mostly work if menaces are elevated to the level of the “what ifs.” It’s one thing to avoid the right hand punch of Ronnie Borski in the 5th grade when he is after your lunch money. But, it is disasterous if nations make decisions from weakness. Circling around the current Ukraine invasion by Russia are comments that the US and its allies best be very careful not to poke the aggressor or he might just blow up the world. Really?
After the atom bomb was developed, the fear that it might be used between the Soviets and the USA dominated life in the 1950’s. In a prior post I referenced the duck and cover drills at school. The Cuban missle crisis was probably the height of atomic anxiety. (Again, see the two movies on the subject. Post of 2/24/2022) But, for a little perspective; the US and Russians have been at each others throats since World War Two. Since the early 1950’s both nations had the abiity to blow up the world. At least that was the fear. Mutual Assured Destruction was believed to stave off an end of the world disaster.
MAD however, did not prevent conflict. The Soviets were pretty much always trying to expand. The US was usually trying to block. Unlike Japan and Germany who wanted to expand for space/resources the communists wanted to spread the revolution’s power. (Extra resources gladly accepted.) Once Eastern Europe was run by Russian stooges, the conflicts extended out to the Korean War; Cuba; Tawain Straits; Angola; lots of South America, Mozambique; Congo; Vietnam; and Afghanistan. Throw in the Berlin crisis; the U-2 incident (not a band): and intrigues in the Middle East, there have been plenty of opportunities to lob atom bombs. All of the years have seen the constant push and pull between the good of freedom and the evil of dictators. (Yes, not 100% good all the time but always closer to the positive side of the ledger then the cretins.)
During all of the tensions between the US and its allies vs. Russia/China/N. Korea the possibility of a nuclear war/accident has been present. Papa doesn’t see much difference between the past and the horrors of Ukraine today. Putin’s evil is easier to showcase in the digital era. Communists/Dictators have always been brutal and merciless. All of this doesn’t mean we should fly off the handle and press the issue by getting directly involved against Russia. But, it also doesn’t mean we need to quake in our boots so much that we can’t respond to aggression. Both parties have been in proxy wars for years. The Russian invasion clearly violates international law. Its violence has no justification. It is morally wrong. We have more right to help Ukraine than Russia has to demolish it.
Some will still ask, “What if he wants to blow up the world?” If that was his intent he would have pushed the button two weeks ago. Ditto if he’s been crazy. Bad results if the world blows up but Papa fails to see the point of the reaction/position of the US or its allies being controlled by fear of the bully. This is a time for leadership. Currently it is still to be determined if level headed decsions based on international law, moral obligations, and self-interests of democracy will prevail. It is in our interest to get China to step forard and help put an end to the slaughter. There is not enough teflon to cover their comradeship. From my vantage point I saw too much weakness BEFORE the invasion. But, recently I’m sensing some flicker of hope mostly emanating from Europe. That makes some sense; they are closer to the danger and have a few more nimble learders. Now that I’ve had my say, it’s probable that none of my current “of age” grandkids even watch enough news to build up any anxiety.