While the war in Iran gets all the headlines, I’m getting more and more worried about that “other” hotspot — the Russia-Ukraine war.
Remember that iconic book about World War I, “The Guns of August,” by Barbara Tuchman? She documented how nobody thought there would be a war, or wanted one, but the nations of Europe slid into it step by oblivious step. It’s feeling eerily and alarmingly similar today.
Many European leaders are calling on their people to prepare for war with Russia by 2030 or sooner, and rearm themselves while gutting their social programs. Remarkably and ominously, Germany is taking the lead. I was glad to read that tens of thousands of German young people demonstrated a few months ago against such militarism, not wanting their lives and futures destroyed in a war with no attempt to settle their differences with Russia and negotiate a peace agreement.
Recently, two million residents of Helsinki, Finland were awakened at 4 a.m. by an emergency message to seek shelter from air attack by drones, presumably by Russia. Turned out it was a swarm of Ukrainian drones that Estonia and Latvia had allowed to use their airspace to attack Russian targets nearby, but they mistakenly entered Finland’s air space.
And there are increasing reports from experts, like retired U.S. Col Daniel Davis, U.K. Prof. Richard Sakwa, and retired Swiss Col. Jacques Baud, that Putin is under increasing pressure by his military as well as much of the population to attack European targets that are providing Ukraine with the drones and missiles that have been attacking deep inside Russia and causing significant damage to their energy infrastructure.
Tuchman might just be rolling over in her grave, yelling “Didn’t you read my other book, ‘The March of Folly’? Learn from history or repeat it!” And 110 years after WWI, in this age of nuclear weapons, a war with Russia could well mean not “a war to end all war,” but “a war that will end all of human civilization and perhaps even life itself.”
It’s time to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, not escalate it and risk catastrophe. Think of your children and grandchildren’s right to a peaceful future. Contact your representatives in Congress to demand an end to this potentially apocalyptic march of folly.
John Haag
Florence