Late to this one, but let me just say that remember in April/May when I kindly reminded folks that even though Putin gave up on Kyiv and Kharkiv that he could stamp his feet, and whole armies would come out of the ground? I also reminded folks back then that Putin could create nuclear "accidents" at places like Chernobyl and Zaporizhia. Suddenly everyone is now very worried about these very old predictions.

Americans who are not combat veterans don't seem to understand what fighting against evil is like. Americans only ever think to themselves "oh they couldn't possibly do *that*" because they're always projecting their social norms and sense of decency onto others who 100% DO NOT share those social norms or senses of decency. Perhaps that was the worst part of ending the draft. That it cut off the exposure of Americans to evil factions around the world and left us complacent to the stark realities of foreign policy. It's a lot easier for Americans to ignore international cruelty when their asses aren't on the line. Just watch the latest Ken Burns doc on the European Jewish immigration waves in the 30's that FDR's state department sat on its hands for. They had the power to do something and save many lives. They didn't do it because it didn't affect Americans personally (yet) and America wanted the decadent choice of neutrality at all costs because they thought they could stay warm amongst the cold austerity of global authoritarianism by pissing their pants every year up until 1941. They let a lot of European refugees get slaughtered in concentration camps as a result.

I ask myself now how many Ukrainians it would take being exterminated by Russian artillery before America finally does something. Another year of this war? A nuclear "accident"? What would it take for our country to get off of its ass and put an end to this shit? I don't know the answer to that question.