In the last 5 days, I have thought a lot about Russia, Ukraine, war and unintended consequences. Most notably, I’ve thought of my kids. Would I send them over to Ukraine as part of a military effort to deter Russia? Unequivocally, I would not. I would sign myself up under the promise that they never be drafted and I would happily go, knowing I protected my kids (sadly, the state of trust with government institutions State side undermines the logical in that proposition entirely.) That is the lens through which I view the world. To the military families, parents, spouses, children and the soldiers themselves, one cannot say enough about the importance of their lives. I thank you with even more respect and honor than usual.
And yet, with nuclear weapons, drones, video game consoles and aircraft capable of inflicting as much or as little damage as the Commander decides, what is the role of a soldier, and specifically the 190,000 that Russia has used to invade Ukraine? When you have enough weapons to destroy the world, do we give the foot soldiers paintball ammo and see how it goes?
Contextually, I have found myself thinking about 1773 and the war for independence that the Boston Tea Party kicked off. Single shot guns, wildly inaccurate, and soldiers standing in a straight line while firing at each other. Victory was a sheer numbers and conviction question. Were you willing to throw every last body at victory?
Today, with automatic weapons, the balance of power is different. When I think about the Second Amendment, and the intent, and the ability to withstand one’s government in the event of “insincerity.” But then I think of the truckers in Canada. If they had brought weapons (and I realize the 2nd A is a U.S. thing but stick with me), how much worse would it have been. Young people shooting at young people, with nothing but bad to come from it. So instead, they set up bouncy castles to share their displeasure. The government instead froze their accounts and those that supported them, and froze them out of the economy. That, to me, is definitively worse than shooting at each other. It was the nuclear option, and they used it. And it explains why North Korea and Iran wouldn’t / won’t stop until they get one.
As Russia continues to fight in Ukraine, their citizens are getting AK-47s from their government and their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy famously said “I don’t need a ride, I need more ammunition…” putting every other politician in the world to shame. What if the Canadians were coming for us? Who the heck would I be shooting at? My parents? My sister? The kids I grew up with? President Zelenskyy asked that same question to the Russian people earlier this week.
But unlike the truckers, shutting of Russian access to the global monetary complex, instituting a no fly area over Ukraine for Russian jets, ceasing to buy oil and natural gas and inflict pain on one’s own country but immensely more on Russia, leaders have opted for the “unprecedented sanctions” headline with no real damage behind it. Some billionaires have seen some assets frozen, some huge Russian companies can’t raise money in the U.S. and some minor import and export bans. It might lower GDP by 2%, so kind of a nothing burger.
But the conundrum is real. One nuclear bomb goes off and there goes the neighborhood. I have no idea what will happen, and I could offer no path ahead other than to enter into negotiations with the Russians. Which is a sad state of affairs when Prime Minister Trudeau wouldn’t meet with the bouncy castle truckers because they didn’t have nukes, or guns.
And all of it makes me think about my kids. What kind of world have we decided to leave them after all the cumulative mistakes from March 2020 that continue to rear their ugly heads today.
https://www.larouchepac.com/the_nazis_among_us_the_nuclear_war_threat_isn_t_coming_from_russia?utm_campaign=20220306_week_no_9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=larouchepac
https://www.larouchepac.com/the_nazis_among_us_the_nuclear_war_threat_isn_t_coming_from_russia?utm_campaign=20220306_week_no_9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=larouchepac