Epicenter of Extremes - A Nuclear Nightmare (The Russian Invasion of Ukraine #348a)

The end of the world has been a recurring theme throughout human history. Everything from natural disasters to pandemics to wars has conjured apocalyptic scenarios. Everyone from prophets to paupers has predicted it. Up to this point in human history they have all been wrong. Humanity has been able to sidestep an extinction event through a combination of luck and ingenuity. The human survival instinct is strong. We have been able to wait out the worst history has to offer. Eventually our luck will probably run out. If, and when that happens no one can say, but there is a likelihood that it could involve nuclear weapons.

Right now, the Ukraine-Russia War is the most likely suspect in what would be the ultimate crime against humanity. That has caused some to predict a creeping calamity that will eventually explode the day Vladimir Putin decides to let the nuclear djinni out of the bottle. The consequences of what might happen next are terrifying to consider, but deep in the chambers of national security agencies analysts have been game planning scenarios to deal with the unthinkable. The use of a nuclear weapon could be the end of Putin’s regime or the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it.

Dire Warnings – Causes & Consequences

A penchant for predicting the end times has been a constant throughout human history. Like death and taxes, it is an inescapable aspect of the human experience. The spread of information and conspiracy culture in the 21st century means the end of the world is something that everyone must come to terms with, either by extolling or ignoring dire warnings of the apocalypse. Internet spawned conspiracies that transform into something much worse are just the latest iteration of the human penchant for doom laden prophecy. The end of the world is a long-term phenomenon. When it fails to materialize, cries of "wait until next year" can be heard. This is the forever forecast of doomsayers around the world. Yet the potential for a human apocalypse has grown to alarming levels ever since the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in 1945.

Nuclear war could finally do for humanity what other calamitous historical events - either natural or manmade - failed to do. That is to extinguish civilization as we know it. Nuclear war is the ultimate either/or proposition for humanity. Either we contrive or luck our way into avoiding nuclear war or we all go down in flames. When it comes to nuclear war, the epicenter is at the extremes, there is no middle ground. This clear and present danger should make us all sit up and take notice. At the very least mitigation procedures to keep us from our worst excesses need to be ongoing.

Unfortunately, arms control and/or the abolition of nuclear weapons is rarely talked about these days. Arms treaties between the United States and Russia have been broken or allowed to expire. Mainly because of Russia’s bad behavior. At the same time. China is boosting its nuclear forces and Iran is on the verge of going nuclear. None of this bodes well for the future of humanity. If all this was not bad enough, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised the odds of a nuclear conflagration. While a nuclear apocalypse may not yet be imminent, the Ukraine-Russia War has led to humanity inching ever closer to the abyss.

Chaos Theory – A Turn Towards The Worst

The looming prospect of mushroom clouds on the horizon is not the product of fanciful imaginations, instead it is a dire warning that humanity should heed. How to step back from the abyss should be on everyone's minds. To be sure, for many analysts and policymakers it already is the chief concern. There is little doubt that they have given a great deal of thought on how to keep the Ukraine-Russia War from going nuclear. The problem is that events have a way of taking on a life of their own. Leaders are at the mercy of events, reacting rather than controlling them. This is the situation both sides face in the Ukraine-Russia War. A situation that is not getting any better and has at times seemed on the verge of chaos. Recent events show that the war might be taking a turn towards much worse.

Nuclear worries, like end of the world scenarios, are nothing new. I grew up during one of the tensest periods of the Cold War during the first half of the 1980’s. Rhetoric from American and Soviet leadership exacerbated fears of a looming apocalypse. Even worse were the murky motives ascribed to whoever was leading the Soviet Union (four leaders between 1982 – 1985). Trust was lacking, suspicions were sky high, and the risk of miscalculation was as high as it had been any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nuclear nightmares were in the news, on the television, and at the movies. You could not duck and cover your way out of these fears.

Ominous Signs – The Cold War Heats Up

For my generation, a cultural touchstone of the Cold War was the movie Red Dawn (1984). The plot centered around an invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union and its allies using passenger airliners. The film captured the mood of the country during the mid-1980’s when many believed the Cold War would turn hot. Communism was a clear and present danger that could wash up on American shores at any moment. The Soviets would then subject Americans to invasion and indoctrination at the point of a gun barrel. This all sounds like something straight out of Hollywood. It was and it wasn’t. Art was imitating the pervasive fear that the Cold War and communism engendered in the American public.

Make no mistake, there was plenty to worry about with the Soviet Union, but Red Dawn took it to an illogical extreme. The film was not exactly a cinematic achievement. That made it no less terrifying to an impressionable teenager such as myself. The memory of Red Dawn has stayed with me since the first time I saw it. Recently I recalled ominous signs from the very first seconds of the film, that have worrying parallels with the intensifying nature of the Ukraine-Russia War.