President Joe Biden says the risk of Armageddon due to possible Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons has increased because the Russian military in Ukraine is “significantly underperforming.”
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin wants to call up 300,000 more conscripts to throw at the invasion. This move looks like the same sort of desperation Lyndon Johnson fell into in the 1960s. Now we’re the new Sweden: Russian draft evaders just landed by boat at an Aleutian island seeking refuge.
I think the general consensus among military experts is that the Russians won’t be able to train the new recruits fast enough to bail out the troops already failing the invasion, and so they’ll only add to the significant underperformance, bringing Putin closer to the brink of chancing tactical nukes.
Don’t “tactical nuclear weapons” sound like they should be adorable? “It’s only a tactical nuclear weapon — it’s very polite.” It sounds like something you’d use to break up a soccer riot. It sounds like a nuclear weapon that clears its throat and says, “Excuse me,” before detonating and then, “Pardon the mess.”
“Are you a cute tactical nuclear weapon? Yes, you ARE! You’re the cutest there ever was!”
Biden says he knows Putin well enough to believe Putin will use tactical nukes. This is scaring me because I can’t guess what all of NATO will do. I mean, it’s not just one country. Biden sounds like he wants to use restraint, but the United States isn’t the only player.
And “restraint” meaning what? No nuclear response? There would have to be a response of some kind, wouldn’t there? If not nuclear, then a conventional warfare response, which sounds like an attack on Russia in Ukraine and in Russia. That doesn’t sound like a good idea in a war where one side is already using nuclear weapons and has strategic nuclear weapons in reserve, waiting for an excuse to use those, too.
Meanwhile, Biden has just pardoned a few thousand people convicted of cannabis possession in the federal courts. He also wants to review pot’s status as an illegal drug. This could set the stage for pot to be legalized just in time for WWIII and a return of the draft. The new war could end up having some great music. So, that could be a silver lining to Armageddon.
The last notice I ever got from the Selective Service in the 1970s was a reminder that my advanced degrees meant I couldn’t age out of the draft; they could call me up if they needed my professional skills in a high tech capacity. Thank goodness I’ve let my professional skills ebb. Calculus? What’s that? Oh yeah, something I learned a long time ago. I’m an old man now. I couldn’t differentiate a nickel from a pickle.
And don’t even think of asking me to do something with computers. I just proved at work I don’t know how to manage settings in a Word document. Also, I have had a cell phone since November 2019 and haven’t yet figured out how to answer incoming calls. And I can’t set the clock on the VCR. In fact, I threw the VCR out years ago. Grandpa is not the high tech warrior you want. Not only that, but Grandpa needs a hearing aid, surgery and softer food.
We were recently talking about how Mayor Bruce Harrell wanted to reduce cost-of-living increases to human service workers. Now we find out from Seattle Weekly that the federal government has provided funds to the state to pay up to $4,000 in individual stipends to homeless service workers. Maybe Harrell decided the city should siphon off that federal money for itself, sort of like the way Walmart figures it doesn’t have to pay its employees a living wage as long as they can get food benefits. They can also go to food banks. No one’s stopping them.
So, Harrell is just pleased that these homeless service workers managed, somehow, to swing some federal funds and would like to thank them for doing that so that the city doesn’t have to pay them as much as it otherwise might have. Way to go, poor people; thanks for helping your city cut corners. You are such good team players, and you all deserve rewards from somewhere.
Dr. Wes is the Real Change Circulation Specialist, but, in addition to his skills with a spreadsheet, he writes this weekly column about whatever recent going-ons caught his attention. Dr. Wes has contributed to the paper since 1994. Curious about his process or have a response to one of his columns? Connect with him at [email protected].
Read more of the Oct. 12-18, 2022 issue.