OPINION:
I’m old enough to remember the days of “duck and cover,” fallout shelters and the Cuban missile crisis.
The late Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara once said of the years under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, “We came within a hair’s breadth of war.”
Have we forgotten that our very existence could be extinguished in a lazy summer afternoon?
The continuing escalation of this so-called proxy war with Russia has gotten to a point where it’s not so “proxy” anymore. It’s evident that the U.S. had a hand in blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline. Our government is sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine for possible use inside Russian territory. What’s more, some say we have special forces on the ground in Ukraine.
A simple spark could ignite this tinder box and then it will be too late for negotiations. A seemingly innocuous event could trigger a reaction that humans cannot stop. The horrifying nightmare that many believe could never happen is inching toward us. Have we again put ourselves within a hair’s breadth of extinction?
We’ve crossed the line with our overinvolvement in the war in Ukraine. We talk of expanding NATO right up to Russia’s doorstep. There’s a limit to the amount of poking this bear will endure.
Just a few are playing a game of chicken with all of humanity. I hope they know what they’re doing.
SCOTT THOMPSON
Bloomington, Indiana
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