U.S. should be preparing for nuclear war
A war rages in Europe and gets hotter. The current administration in Washington, D.C. sends armaments, costing huge amounts to support the friendly nation, a democracy, whose cities are being bombed unmercifully. The United States, coming out of economic worries and debating other issues, is torn between those who approve of arming our ally and those who would cut the military aid. Many in our nation pay little or no attention to Europe’s troubles, expending their energy on making money, getting ahead, and entertaining themselves with sports, music, and myriad other pursuits.
Sound a little bit familiar? Maybe, if you’re over 50 and learned about the start of World War II. The analogy isn’t perfect, but the narrative above is also our situation today.
What’s different now is that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is rattling the nuclear sabre as the Kremlin meets unbelievably stiff resistance from little Ukraine — and the doomsday clock shows we’re closer to nuclear war than any time since Russian missiles in Cuba were pointed at the U.S. (“Russia suspends only remaining major nuclear treaty with US,” Feb. 21.)
Judging from The Baltimore Sun’s coverage of the war, which usually appears between pages 3 and 10, and from a tiny fraction of letters to the editor about a war — in which, after a year of bloodshed, neither side plans to give an inch — many Americans either don’t know about Ukraine, don’t care or see no workable solution to it.
I get that. What is hard to fathom is why, given Putin’s fanatical obsession with overcoming Ukraine, and with nuclear bombs a distinct possibility, our government isn’t once again, as when the Cold War grew dangerous, reviving Civil Defense. Air raid shelters were created for the populace in the 1950s and 1960s. Some citizens who were able fashioned bomb shelters in their own basements or yards.
Alarmist? No, it’s realistic and a practical way to protect ourselves if worse comes to worst. Costly? Of course and we should not touch the funds going to aid Ukraine against her bully neighbor. But let’s spend what is necessary to save lives here.
— Bruce R. Knauff, Towson