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‘Our Crazy Neighbor’
We've all had annoying neighbors at one point or another in our lives.
But unless you live in a really (really) bad neighborhood, you probably don't have to worry too much about the people next door launching an intercontinental ballistic missile at your house.
On Thursday, in an apparent effort to prove something about his willingness to deploy a nuclear weapon to win a war against a state he should've been able to conquer with minimal effort in the space of a few weeks, if not a few days, Vl
I was reading estimates of the number of people killed in this war and it’s hard to wrap my head around how many people are willing to die on a battlefield. It’s not just this war, but any war. So much of our history is filled with war and killing and we never run out of people to kill or be killed. It’s terrifying how easily people can be conditioned to not only accept that but volunteer for it.
As one who volunteered I can tell you no one goes to battle thinking they’re going to die. It’s a possibility, just like when I get in my car and go for a drive I know I could be in an accident and die, but I don’t think it’s going to happen to me. The question of “Is this worth it for me to die?”, now that’s the reason why only young people step forward, they don’t spend as much time thinking about that question.
Thanks for that perspective – that makes sense, especially from a US perspective where leadership is much less likely to send people into a meat grinder. I’d be curious if that same mentality applies to Russians willing to go into Ukraine or going back farther in history to something like a world war where the likelihood of death was much higher. I suppose the mentality is probably similar since most soldiers aren’t suicidal.
The current official number of Russians who died in WWII is ~ 27 million. Stalin ordered his soldiers to “never take one step back.”
Been a long time since WWII. Not sure why anyone under the age of 75 would trust our government to decide when we have to sacrifice our children for the greater good, esp when that “good” is oil reserves, trade links, geopolitical leverage, stoking the military-industrial complex or just bald vengeance.
I guess the choices are risk your life fighting for your freedom, surrender and try to become a collaborator with the Orcs, hide and hope for the best, or run away to another country. I agree with this, he would need to be killed. I would like to believe I would fight and I admire Zelensky and those of his people who choose to follow him.
As I have aged (I just turned 80, my target sell by date) I have discovered that I don’t care much what Putin does. Like most people threatened with (violent) death, my feeling is, “If you are going to do this do it right, quick and painless.” The only person who can make the decision to die is me. Anyone else must follow my rules.
Fantastic analysis H.