Eve of Destruction

Putin is either in deadly earnest with his nuclear threats, or if he is bluffing there is no possible way we can be sure of it, but Europe and America also cannot back down on Ukraine.

It’s 1940 Again in America, as Ukraine Burns

It appears that many Americans sympathizing with a fascist enemy nation is not a new phenomenon.

Grudge Match: Empires Versus Nation-States Versus Corporations

The perpetual cry to “throw the bums out” never lets up these days, so that as soon as the bums are duly ejected, the next set of bums finds itself under siege.

The Fate of the Earth and Fermi’s Paradox

Everyone knows that we’re in deep trouble, and that if our civilization collapses, we’re likely to take most of the living things on Earth with us. What if this happens everywhere, every time intelligent, self-aware life appears?

Russian Hubris, Meet Russian Nemesis

When this war is over, the Russian people are going to have to look each other in the eye, in the rubble of their country, and ask themselves some hard questions.

The Madman Theory and NATO’s Dilemma

The story goes that President Nixon, brainstorming with Henry Kissinger on how America could prevail in Vietnam, suggested to the would-be American Metternich that he could tell North Vietnamese negotiators that the president was quite insane and willing to use nuclear weapons against the Communist state if he didn’t get his way. This “madman theory”

Gentlemen, Your Wargasms Are Indecent

There’s the unmistakable impression of senile old men in their second childhood, gleefully playing war games as they fingerpaint arrows over maps, eyes glowing with excitement as they tell us all about the latest toys to be deployed in someone else’s war.

The Fire This Time; Or, The Lessons of History

The current-day Russian Army is in pitiful shape compared to the terrifying German war machine of 1939, though that does not mean that the former can’t kill thousands or potentially even millions of people in its path.

Let’s Not Be Surprised at the Mounting Disasters of Our Time

On and on, the dismal march of “surprise.”

Bringing the War Home

Trump, and the crowd at the recent Conservative Political Action Committee conference who gathered to cheer Marjorie Taylor Greene and chant Putin’s name, find his behavior admirable.