Nuclear Winter (4 minute read)

 

It comes down to one man.

            Nuclear war does not end well for the human race and all life on the planet. There are a lot of people expressing a pretty cavalier attitude when it comes to the United States getting into a direct confrontation with Russian forces.

            As we progress deeper into World War III, I can’t help but realize that the survival of the species is in the hands of one man. ONE man has the ability to end the human race. That isn’t hyperbole. Vladimir Putin of Russia is threatening the world with nuclear war and he’s in complete charge of Russia. Just like he started a war with Ukraine he can start a war with the world.

One Man

M. A. D. again.

            Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). It has been years since that term has been freely bandied about. All of those thousands of nuclear warheads along with their delivery systems didn’t go away. They’re still there and they are still ready. The United States has them. Russia has them. China has them. England has them. NATO has them. Pakistan has them. India has them. Governments assume that Israel has them. North Korea will soon have them if they don’t already. Same for Iran.

Thousands.

            Any use of a nuclear weapon by any country can trigger a response that ends with the destruction of all life on the planet Earth.

ALL life.

War Games

            The doctrine of MAD is essentially that nobody “wins.” The phrase that I found that seems most appropriate about the doctrine is that ‘He who fires first dies second.’ Scientists still argue about what would happen in regards to a “Nuclear Winter” occurring after thousands of nuclear warheads were detonated. The arguments mainly center upon the degree of how bad things will get. Most are in agreement that the world becomes largely uninhabitable and if people survive the initial destruction and radiation from fallout they will in all likelihood die of starvation when food runs out. In other words the climate would be damaged enough that there wouldn’t be any food production.

            The problem arises when someone or group of someones thinks that they can win in a nuclear exchange. This is where you have evangelicals pushing for such a confrontation to bring about fulfillment of the prophecies. Robertson isn’t alone in his beliefs when he says that God compelled Putin to invade Ukraine. The same people support the belief that Trump is God’s chosen man. Evangelicals in general have an apocalyptic view of the world and that we are living in “the end times.” It’s why they are such nut cases about Israel.

Rock and a hard place

            Remember the movie “War Games?” Ultimately it is about the futility of starting a nuclear war which can’t be won. This no-win situation of “Mutually Assured Destruction” is in regards to Ukraine being used for leverage by the man that started the war. One man. A psychopath. Vladimir Putin.

            So how do we deal with him? We can’t give him what he wants. Putin has already shown the world that he wants more. The more he gets the more he wants. He has wealth and power but he wants more. He has an appetite that can never be satisfied.

            For whatever reason he appears to be afraid of a strong NATO backed by the United States. This is why he tried to use Trump to destroy NATO. He came close but he didn’t succeed. Serving NATO serves our own interests. That is putting America first. If Putin gets a chokehold on Europe then he along with China will have a chokehold on us.

            President Biden has been successful so far in unifying NATO and Europe. They have recognized that Putin has an end game. It’s the same end game that he has always had: the destruction of our way of life and form of government. The mere existence of Democracies is a threat to authoritarians.

            So far the Republican Party (not all of them) along with the Putin wing of the Party, both headed by Trump, have been unified in attacking President Biden while they parrot Russian talking points along with Fox Pravda. They and Putin’s admirers blame Biden, not Putin, for the invasion of Ukraine. As hard as this is to believe, a few million Americans support Putin over Biden. They believe their own propaganda. Since we’re at war they might consider throwing in with our Commander In Chief and committing to our form of government and way of life. Once again the free world has turned to us.

Let’s not let ourselves down.