Are You Ready to Die for Ukraine?

Amid talk of escalation, one should contemplate the possibility of disaster, even if it's unlikely.

Shortly after 9/11, I heard numerous politicians saying things like, “We never imagined that our enemies would use passenger planes like missiles to attack our buildings.” After the great financial crisis of 2008, I heard politicians saying they didn’t see it coming—that somehow our risk models didn’t apply. In short, captured politicians often don’t see (or acknowledge) that a disaster is coming until it’s too late, and then they act surprised by it.

Amid talk of escalation—of supplying sophisticated long range missiles to Ukraine with which to attack Russia—prudent people should start asking themselves, “Am I ready to die for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and am I ready for my children to die for it?”

If the answer is NO, then prudent citizens should start being more vocal in their insistence that our insane politicians seek a negotiated settlement to this senseless war that has elevated the risk of total disaster for the American people. This objective alone is strong reason to vote for Donald Trump, who has stated that stopping the war will be his first priority.

Americans have apparently forgotten the risk models that were developed during the Cold War. Reasonable people back then understood that even if the risk of a nuclear exchange is low, it’s best not to embark on a path of escalation with a nuclear armed adversary unless we are already faced with an existential threat to the U.S. homeland.

One of my oldest friends was a fighter pilot in the Navy, and thirty years ago he told that if it comes to close encounters with the Russians, deescalation should always be at the forefront of one’s mind. As he put it, “Once tactical nukes start getting slung around, warfare becomes an entirely different ballgame with highly unpredictable outcomes.”

Contemplating the question, “Am I ready to die?” sharpens the mind. I spent Friday afternoon with a dear friend who has late stage cancer, and we spoke at length of her preparation to die. Most of us don’t think about it until we receive the bad diagnosis.

Are you ready to die for Ukraine?