This is surreal.

I mean I remember the Iraq war. The first one, the Bush I one. Where you turned on the TV and saw the SCUD missiles and the explosions. But that was before America took its right turn, before the multiple truths, when we still believed that the U.S. was an unbeatable paradise/power.

And before that we had Tiananmen Square. But this was before they built MacBooks in China. We still saw China as being backward, thought most of the country was still working in rice paddies. Today China is on course to supersede the U.S., by virtue of the number of people if nothing else. That’s a huge market. And those people have money.

But war…

We didn’t used to start them. But then Bush II went into Iraq, to change the regime, and now regime change is an issue in the United States.

I’ve got to ask. Would Tucker Carlson be for Ukraine if Biden was not? Is that what it’s come down to, you say black, so I say white?

As for truth…

That is the story here. Disinformation. If you’re living in Russia you’re getting a completely different story. And Putin is seen as a hero, because life under his reign is better than it was under Yeltsin. And then there’s national pride…

But really, truth is up for grabs. Many people believe Brexit happened because of Russian disinformation online. Hell, I won’t call Putin a genius, but you’ve got to give him credit for fighting in the arena that really counts, the internet. We’ve got a bunch of U.S. citizens who believe that if they hoard enough guns they can stand up to the government. Er, no. Because the first thing the government is going to do is shut down the internet. And the cell towers. And then you won’t be able to organize, speak with others, you’ll be on your own.

Now have you ever been to these countries? Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Germany..? You’d be stunned how close they are. It’s like Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. Right next door. America is separated from its enemies by oceans, but not in Eastern Europe. So the question arises, what should we do?

Now if you’re a child of the sixties, which I most certainly am, you think back to Vietnam. We shouldn’t have been there. Turns out the Domino Theory wasn’t true. It was just about Vietnam. We also learned you can’t beat hearts and minds, in that case the Northern Vietnamese. So should we stay out of Ukraine?

Now Biden already said he’s not sending troops. And there’s all this discussion of NATO. Well, in truth Hungary and Poland are closer in construct to Russia than Western Europe at this point.

So the question is, can we save democracy?

That’s it. We were brought up thinking democracy’s forever. But that’s not true. And autocracy is appealing to people, because the autocrat establishes order, which they believe is preferable to chaos.

But the autocrat…

Trump praising Putin? It’s like a “Superman” comic, we’re living in Bizarroland. So many of the people on Fox, on the right, saying the Russians aren’t affecting your life, they’re not insisting your children be taught critical race theory, which isn’t in any of these schools anyway. I mean you cozy up to Russia before the U.S? And somehow all of this is Biden’s fault?

So the U.K. is out to lunch. Killed by Brexit. They can’t even get the touring rules right, never mind the big issues. That’s right, you could travel freely from the U.K. to anywhere in Europe. Now you need a carnet and…it’s painful. Time-consuming and expensive. And no relief is in sight.

Germany blinked, they weren’t immediately up in arms re Russia and Ukraine.

And France has a strong right wing autocratic element, as does Italy. And Italy can barely stand up for itself financially, never mind militarily.

As for Switzerland? Never really neutral. They side with the enemy, hide their money, trade with them, and escape bombing. Took decades for the truth to come out, but it’s clear now.

Luxembourg? Belgium? The Netherlands? Who is going to stand up to the Russian threat?

As for the U.S…citizens are struggling so much that they won’t endorse fighting until they are personally threatened, even though the macroeconomic effects are already hurting them, with higher prices, never mind the market crashing. Everything affects everybody in today’s world, you cannot live with your head in the sand.

As for Putin himself… I mean no one lives forever. I just can’t imagine someone could be that greedy and power-hungry. But maybe that’s what the tech titans are like. And the tech titans don’t hew to any government, they’re multinational, believing they’re above it, skating on paying taxes. And they’ve got to make their margins, to keep their investors happy. Screw the hoi polloi.

I read a good book last weekend:

“The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future”: https://amzn.to/3peZ3WV

What author Stephen Marche does is present hypotheticals, to illustrate the differences in America.

That’s right, there are two sides and neither one is budging, You cannot convince any team member to jump sides, not a single one! So if you’re writing to change minds…it’s a worthless enterprise.

So the first hypothetical is the closing of a bridge in the south because it is structurally unsound. But it can’t be instantly replaced, there must be an environmental impact report. Time is going by. And the detour is time-consuming. So, the citizens commandeer the bridge, open it, and the sheriff says there’s nothing he can do, the protesters are exercising their freedom. And then this message is echoed in the right wing blogosphere, and on Fox News.

Meanwhile, if you send the military down to create order…that’s never a good look.

Then there’s the hypothetical about New York City. A Category 3 hurricane is coming. People aren’t too worried, until the very last minute, when some leave town. After Sandy, sea walls were supposed to be built, but they haven’t been. So New York ends up flooded and the question arises, do you pay to rebuild it? This is the climate crisis issue.

We’ve got gridlock in these United States. We can’t get anything done. Not even a bullet train to nowhere in California. Meanwhile, Xi keeps throwing up buildings and highways in seeming instants, never mind fast trains. Sure, he’s ruling with an iron fist, and the Uighurs’ rights are being trampled. But those trains are running on time!

What can be sacrificed in America to move forward? Jews? Asians? Latinos?

And Marche says how the founding fathers expected the Constitution would be rewritten every couple of decades. Meanwhile, we’ve got Supreme Court justices believing issues must be decided based on the intention of the framers. Come on, could even you have foreseen the internet? We foresaw flying cars, but they never even arrived!

And then there’s the issue of the minority ruling in the Senate and sometimes in the White House. We’re heading for disaster.

Meanwhile, the “New York Times” runs an opinion piece by some highfalutin’ wanker saying there will be no civil war. Well, if he read my inbox he’d think differently. These are the same people who thought if Trump lost, he’d walk from the White House no problem.

Things are bad out there.

And once again, Putin has delivered an Olympic Surprise. In 2014, it was Crimea, now it’s all of Ukraine. But he kept saying he wasn’t gonna do it!

This does involve you. Especially if you’re young and/or have kids. Democracy is hanging by a thread, all over the world. Autocrats are on the rise. I mean what is going to happen to Putin? In truth, he’s been preparing for this for years, anticipating the sanctions, bulking up his reserves. And you know if there’s any hardship it won’t be endured by him, but the Russian people.

So we’re just going to let him take it?

Well, Trump said he wanted Greenland. But he didn’t discuss it with Denmark first.

That’s right, the bizarre and insane has come true.

Meanwhile, if you’re living in Ukraine…

That’s the weird thing about war. Everything is on the line and nothing. Some people were hiding, vacating the premises, yet schoolchildren were out on the playground.

Meanwhile, the newspapers print what is happening and most everyone in America shrugs. They’re not in the line of fire yet.

It’s like life is an endless marshmallow test. Everybody wants instant gratification. Sacrificing for the future? Let’s live for today!

Now we know the Ukrainian army won’t be effective, just like the Iraq and Afghani forces were not.

So Putin takes Ukraine, and we do…

Essentially nothing.

He’s already got Belarus, effectively.

As for protest… It takes a lot to topple an autocrat. And the leader has got the military, never mind the money.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. And probably neither are you.

But I’ve never seen this before. Supposedly World War II was the war to end all wars. In the sixties Laura Nyro said she didn’t want to study war no more. Edwin Starr told us war was good for absolutely nothing. Now it’s everyday life, no big deal.

Live long enough and everything you accepted as bedrock is up for grabs. The Russians good guys?

We used to all be in it together.

Now I feel like I’m in it all by myself.