Online, one of the things I see repeatedly is people downplaying the threat of Russia. Especially in the case of the Ukraine War you see a lot of armchair hawks talking tough about Russia as if they would be easy to beat forgetting Russia is a nuclear power with more weapons in their nuclear arsenal than the US.
Anyone under the age…
I had started this way back in 2024 but I get the sense I may have started it even earlier. I see people talk about what’s happening in the world on TV and then I hear people in my life say things and I’m just stricken by how stupid they sound.
Young people I get, they don’t remember the Cold War but I even have people older than me who should know better. My cousin who I shoot pool with was carping about Trump not standing up to Russia and I pointedly asked him what he wanted, if he wanted an actual war and he really didn’t think it was something that should be off the table.
I get it.
I think that it’s stupid underestimating the Russians but I do get it.
So, referencing that conversation which I started to write about. People really do underestimate Russia these days. One of the things I continue to find amazing in my fellow citizens is there truly myopic view of the world. People who haven’t gone anywhere thing the rest of the world is like their own little bubble is.
One of the truly great things I ever did in my life was traveling to Italy for a week which was way, way too short to truly appreciate the nation. The thing I did get as a takeaway though was just how ridiculous the American view of the world is… we now are on the cusp of the 250th anniversary of our nation but the thing is that places like China, Russia, Italy and others have histories that go back way, way further than that.
Russia is a good case in point.
That nation’s history goes back to the 9th century… roll that over in your head for a second! We’re talking about the 250th anniversary of the United States and in comparison Russia’s history goes back over 1,000 years!
Not only that, but Russia history is intertwined with Vikings, Latvians, Ukranians and even Mongols. It’s simply astounding when you do a deep dive into it.
There’s this book I started to read which I highly recommend: Revolutionary Russia, 1891–1991: A History and that only covers a brief period of the history of the nation but it’s a good primer on understanding how we got here.
Russia is the largest nation on the planet in terms of geography, it slots in at 9th in terms of population and GDP so it isn’t a nation we should think as minor and then when you add in the fact that Russia has the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal yet as I said Americans… the general population of the US appears to think Russia really isn’t all that big a deal in many ways.
I just can’t get over it sometimes seeing how stupid people are. I guess in some ways the benefit of being around for a long time is having perspective but I’ll be damned if social media hasn’t killed people opening up a book about history. It’s the same thing with the people who think the moon landing was faked… never mind that many of the things that they enjoy in modern life have their roots in the space program.
Unbelievable.
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