Nukes

September 6th, 2024

A couple days ago, the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, published a letter from me. It is as follows:

“Dear Editor: I served in West Germany as a U.S. Army officer back in the early 1980’s, when the Cold War confrontation with the Soviet Union was intense.

I always had the feeling while I was there that a nuclear war could start any day. I get the same feeling now with the war in Ukraine. Since the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk began, the feeling has grown stronger. Ukraine clearly has a right to attack Russian territory, but the stakes are incredibly high. The question is: When will Putin get so desperate that he launches a nuclear weapon?

If and when Putin fires a nuclear device, he will cross the reddest of red lines, and it won’t end there. Nukes are like potato chips — one is never enough. The world has a laser-like focus on the war in Gaza. Our attention should be on Ukraine. That’s where the danger lies.”

In my experience, it takes a while for a letter to the editor to filter through the system. I sent this letter, or something very similar, to other newspapers. Maybe another publication will see fit to use it. Even if only one paper used it, it’s a win.