Friendly reminder that if there's a nuclear war it won't matter if it's Russia's fault or if it happened because Putin is a bad bad man. Such intellectual cover will be of no consolation as the world ends. All that will matter is that we didn't take steps to avoid that outcome.
I keep bringing this up because I really don't think most people get it. People really don't seem to understand that nuclear war would mean the end, and that the end would mean it won't matter whose fault it was. The only thing that would matter is that humanity let it happen.
People don't seem to understand that nuclear war would mean nobody will be around to arbitrate whose fault it was or feel self-righteous about it. There won't be pundits arguing about it on Fox or MSNBC, over whether it was more Biden's fault, Trump's fault, Putin's fault, etc.
So people respond to warnings of nuclear war by babbling about how Russia shouldn't be threatening nukes and how Putin is a mean mean meanie. But that just isn't a valid response to the crisis our species is now facing. People aren't engaging rationally with this subject at all.
And I think that's largely because the prospect of nuclear armageddon such a big, uncomfortable subject to confront. For most people it's just this vague blurry mass in the periphery of their awareness; they haven't sat down and deeply contemplated what it is. What it would mean.
So we're being marched further and further into nuclear brinkmanship under cover of mass media propaganda, sure. But we're also being marched further and further into nuclear brinkmanship under cover of our own tendency toward psychological compartmentalization.
It absolutely is possible to turn away from this trajectory and move toward de-escalation, diplomacy and detente. Anyone who tells you that's not possible is lying. All it would cost is some ego hits and the relinquishing of agendas of global conquest.
There will be several. Happens literally every single time I try to talk about the threat of nuclear war and its implication for our species. People actually think it's a valid response to a discussion about the very worst thing that could possibly happen.
See this is what I'm talking about. Do you understand that these noises you're making are not actually a response to the fact that the world may end in an entirely preventable nuclear holocaust? Do you understand this doesn't address the issue at all?
It's impossible to overstate how much our society is shaped by the fact that those who are given the most influence and the largest platforms will experience our status quo systems as working very nicely and have a vested interest in preserving those systems which benefit them.
The media-owning, culture-manufacturing class of the super-wealthy elevates people to wealth and celebrity who look like they will be good protectors of their class interests. Those people will necessarily speak fondly of the status quo political systems which let them be rich.
These are the people who make all the shows, movies and music almost everyone consumes, thereby engineering mainstream culture to the benefit of the super wealthy. It shapes the way the people think, speak, act and vote. What they feel entitled to. What they think is possible.
The western empire has established a policy of escalating every time Russia doesn't react forcefully to a previous escalation, which means Russia is being incentivized to react forcefully to those escalations. caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-west-is-…
The West Is Incentivizing Russia To Hit Back
"Well the omnicidal war sluts won the debate over sending tanks to Ukraine, so now it's time to start arguing for sending F-16s."
The West Is Incentivizing Russia To Hit Back
"When even the myopic empire simps at The New York Times are acknowledging that western powers are escalating aggressions in a very dangerous direction, you should probably sit up and pay attention." caityjohnstone.medium.com/the-west-is-in…
Most people on this planet couldn't give a shit who governs Crimea, but one small group insists we risk every life in existence on earth - every bee, every frog, every tree, every child - for their current t-shirt-of-the-week issue. It's so arrogant.
It's one thing to draw a line and say "The world must never let anyone cross this point, even if it means risking nuclear armageddon." It's quite another to make that line something as trivial as the question of who governs Crimea. It's not legitimate to risk all life over that.
This is especially true because even the Crimeans themselves prefer to be Russian. But even if they didn't, it still wouldn't be legitimate for the US empire to risk the lives of people in Africa or South America by backing an offensive on Crimea. forbes.com/sites/kenrapoz…
Whenever there's a mass shooting with a semiautomatic firearm in the US you get a tsunami of Democrats falling all over themselves to proclaim that those weapons should only be used to kill foreigners.
Most of the time someone says "I opposed the Iraq war" they're doing it to defend their support for some other US atrocity. Normal people acting in good faith don't feel the need to inform you that they opposed a very obvious evil and don't think they deserve any points for it.
"I opposed the Iraq war" usually just means "I did an anti-war so now I get to do some warmongering, as a treat."
"I opposed this Iraq war, but THIS time- "
Okay so you were right about US foreign policy one time and now you're wrong about US foreign policy. There is nothing contradictory about these two points.
The war propaganda environment for Ukraine was under construction well before the war actually started. The media totally changed their behavior a few years ago. Russiagate narratives cooked up by the US intelligence cartel dominated the airwaves. Almost like this was planned.
Almost like a war against Russia had already been prepared for. Almost like the western empire knew its continuous reckless provocations could press Putin into choosing war as the least bad of two bad options.
And now there's a proxy war the US admits advances its strategic aims.
Russiagate had ostensibly nothing to do with Ukraine; it was a narrative that Trump and Putin had conspired to steal the 2016 election. Yet it was used to pace Democrats into hating something they hadn't thought much about since the fall of the USSR. Just in time for this war.