Closer yet, to the edge

 

"Where do we go from here? Is there any coming back off of this cliff? Can we pull another rabbit out of our hat like we did with the Cuban Missile Crisis? Back then, we had John Kennedy. Today we have Joe Biden. Figure the odds."

How does it feel? Do you feel helpless? Like a passenger in a plane where the pilot has a death wish? Those of us who are old (really old), have had this feeling before. When the world was spinning out of control. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Where most people felt we were going to war with the Soviet Union. Nuclear war. That there was no way out. The missiles were in Cuba, and the blockade was on. The stage was set for an ugly climax. The United States and Russia were about to poison the world, and kill millions of people.

But cooler heads finally did prevail. We stepped back, away from the cliff. And, the world -adopted the concept of MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction. As soon as the first nuke was unleashed, it would be the end of everything as we know it. It was the only way we knew of how to keep the nuclear genie in the bottle.

Decades passed. Most sane people in Russia and NATO knew that nuclear war was unwinnable. The loser would be mankind. However, then came Putin, sick with some disease, and hitting his 70th year. It was important to him to make his mark on history. Right the wrong of the Soviet Union dissolving. Time to take back some territory. Might as well start with Ukraine. That was a big mistake.

Now we have almost a perfect storm for Crazy Ivan to really get crazy. To unleash some tactical nukes in Ukraine to tip the scales. With the Ukrainians gaining the upper hand, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers just plain giving up, and unrest at home, Putin has found himself in a real box. He could lite a nuke on the Ukrainian battlefield, or - teach NATO a lesson by taking out Brussels. 

And if it progressed from there? It was reported on the news yesterday, that one of Russia's "super subs" was missing. Maybe lurking somewhere, getting ready to do something awful. What is so special about this type of sub? This sub, the Belgorod, has the "doomsday torpedo" weapon system. The torpedoes which are rumored to contain a 200 MT warhead. Large enough to cause a 500 meter radioactive tsunami once detonated. To take out a coastal city, and radiate it for generations. The use of this weapon would be horrible beyond belief.

Where do we go from here? Is there any coming back off of this cliff? Can we pull another rabbit out of our hat like we did with the Cuban Missile Crisis? Back then, we had John Kennedy. Today we have Joe Biden. Figure the odds.