On wishing for nuclear war
Yesterday, there seemed to be an escalation of the Russo-Ukraine war. There was an unspecified attack across the Polish border, which resulted in two deaths.
On CounterSocial, I made the anodyne observation that I support Ukraine, but neither Ukraine nor nearly anything else is worth World War III. I was immediately greeted with invective from one poster, asking if I would think World War III would be worth it if my children had been murdered by war criminal Vladimir Putin. My response heads this piece.
As I've always said, I'm not a pacifist. I'm a firm believer in Just War theory. Human beings have a right to defend themselves against military aggression. But it's a long road from Just War to "let's blow everything up." This is my opinion, but there is no cause worthy enough to set off a chain of events which result in the destruction of all life on this planet.
The war in Ukraine has upended certainties. People who would have been antiwar before are now for writing a blank cheque to Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy. And people who were for "wars of liberation" are now castigators of Ukraine as a den of Nazis.
My position is this: I support Ukraine. The US and the West must give all material support it can to the Ukrainians. But that doesn't mean that NATO has to be involved. That doesn't mean that, to quote a phrase from the Cold War, we have to go through the looking glass. No, again, Ukraine is not worth a third world war. Nothing is.
I'm not at all pleased that Pres. Zelenskyy keeps trying to draw NATO into his war. Does he think this will help? Does he think Russians will fold at the sight of NATO brigades? Perhaps. Or perhaps Russians will unleash their nuclear arsenal at that intervention.
Ukraine's cause is just. And it's receiving the kind of aid that other combatants across the world can only dream of. This is because this is the first major European land war since 1945. This war directly threatens the peace of Europe. It does so in a way that, sadly, wars in the Sahel don't. (That's another essay.) But in the months since Ukraine was invaded, Pres. Zelenskyy has continually called for actions which would be beneficial neither to his country nor to the West. President Joe Biden lost his composure during the summer over Pres. Zelenskyy's sniping. The US is doing all it can to support Ukraine's war effort; triggering a nuclear conflagration is not in its plans.
I repeat: Nothing is worth a nuclear World War III. That would be a permanent solution to a temporary problem; a solution we would not survive. Thank goodness we have a level-headed steersman at the tiller.
People who call for an all-out war are disingenuous at best, and homicidal at worst. Humanity balances on a precipice. On one side is a future full of possibilities. On the other side, Gehenna. I know which side to which I want to tilt.