Why We Shouldn’t Advocate For War With Russia (or China)

Map of Eastern Europe centered around Ukraine.

The only type of news we get is bad news these days. 2020 felt like the beginning of a doomsday film that unfortunately turned into a franchise and no matter how badly we don’t want to watch the movies, we’re forced to. It’s like we all live in The Fast and Furious series with real world implications. 

The first movie was about a global pandemic and how the leaders of the world handled it. If it were a Hollywood-produced film, America would probably have been the most competent nation of all and some quirky scientist solves the problem. This shy genius would then bang the love interest he awkwardly flirts with at the beginning of the film. The day is saved. Everyone claps. Hooray. 

But that’s not what happened. In reality, America handled, and is still handling, the pandemic worse than every other nation on the fucking planet, evident by our staggeringly high number of COVID-19 fatalities. 

To the right wingers in the comment section who are going to make fun of me for taking the pandemic seriously: I don’t care and will not respond to you. I hope you enjoy your 7 likes. Congrats. You got me. 

But that’s just the first movie. Now we’re talking about the sequel.

Doomsday Part Deux: Russia Strikes Back!

If you’ve been living under a rock, Russia has declared war on Ukraine. This has pushed the world closer to destabilization and put pressure on the United States to react and increased the price of gas to record breaking levels. 

The US and the rest of the western world has hit Russia with numerous sanctions and is attempting to economically isolate them into negotiating with Ukraine on a peaceful resolution. 

It would mean the United States and its allies would be declaring war on Russia, which is allied with China. This would mean, unless there was a speedy surrender on one part or the other, the beginning of World War 3. 

This has some people saying we aren’t going far enough to support Ukraine in their fight against Russia. And a lot of those people are parroting what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested: a no fly zone. 

Even in San Francisco, where antiwar protests are common, I’ve seen flyers demanding a no fly zone over Ukraine. But I don’t think these people have any understanding of what the fuck that actually means…

We don’t want to end up on the wrong side of a nuclear holocaust trying to be on the right side of history. 

A no fly zone is a predetermined space over a country where unauthorized jets are not allowed to fly. You may be wondering, how does a nation enforce a no fly zone? 

They enforce it militarily, which means, they first issue a warning, and if the jets or helicopters don’t leave, they get shot down. In the case of a no fly zone over Ukraine, the United States, or its ally NATO, would be the ones shooting the planes out of the sky. This would mean the US and its allies in Europe would be shooting down Russian planes. This would be an act of war. It would mean the United States and its allies would be declaring war on Russia, which is allied with China. This would mean, unless there was a speedy surrender on one part or the other, the beginning of World War 3. 

That is what you’re fucking advocating for with a no fly zone.

That’s not to say Russia shouldn’t face repercussions for their actions in the Ukraine. They should, but we don’t want to end up on the wrong side of a nuclear holocaust trying to be on the right side of history. 

And we also have to ask, can the world, from an environmental standpoint, withstand a nuclear war? 

There are alternatives to a no fly zone, and we’re already engaged in most of them. There’s economic repercussions, which has been our main strategy. We’ve also been arming the Ukrainians, and supporting them financially. We’ve even banned Russian oil which is Russia’s main export.

I understand that when we see injustice, we want to do something, but we have to understand the complexities of the world we live in and not demand a reaction that would leave the world in a worse position than the initial problem caused. A “hot war” between two nuclear powers has the potential to be world ending.

And we also have to ask, can the world, from an environmental standpoint, withstand a nuclear war?

The answer is no. War in general causes massive pollution. Nuclear weapons can blow holes in the atmosphere. And I hate to engage in whataboutisms, but we live in America. 

I’m not even going to explain what I mean when I say that, but think about it for a second.  Instead of taking a stand or speaking out… think, just for a second…

Fucking think.

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