Ukraine crisis an eerie reversal of Cuban Missile Crisis

Russia's war on Ukraine has the potential to spiral out of control, leading to exchange of nuclear weapons between Russia and the U.S. That is because U.S. economic sanctions against Russia and funneling arms to Ukrainians defending against the Russian assault, places America on a potential collision course with Russia. These two countries possess over 11,500 nuclear weapons between them. It just takes one mistake, one miscalculation, one rogue person with the ability to unleash just one such weapon to set off a mutually devastating exchange that could blanket the earth with nuclear destruction.

Russian president Putin alluded to such potential when he announced he put Russia’s strategic nuclear resources on high alert due “aggressive statements” from Western powers. He also stated “No matter who tries to stand in our way or create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history."

This development brought me back 60 years, when as a 17 years old high school senior, I spent 2 weeks wondering if each day would end in nuclear destruction or if I simply wouldn’t awaken from a restless sleep. That, of course, was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962.

There is an eerie irony in this scenario. Sixty years ago it was the Russians who nearly goaded the U.S. to launch a bombing campaign, possibly even invasion of Cuba, to remove nuclear missiles American viewed as an existential threat. But it was Russia, who started the crisis, that blinked first, avoiding all-out war. We came much closer to nuclear Armageddon than we knew during the crisis.

In the Ukraine crisis, the West, who provoked the crisis thru 31 years of expanding an obsolete NATO up to Russia’s borders, didn’t blink. Russia’s response was criminal war. Now all bets of a peaceful resolution are off.

Worse. All bets are off this crisis won't turn nuclear.

Weapons makers fueled NATO expansion from 16 to 30 members

When the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991, U.S. weapons makers saw their Cold War gravy train grind to a halt. By 1993, the big weaponeers like Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup and Lockheed stemmed the bleeding by gobbling up the smaller players, acquiring new economic muscle in a dwindling domestic market.

To keep profits booming they turned eastward, all the way to the former Soviet republics. Their brilliant scheme was to bring these nations into NATO so they could sell them endless billions in weaponry. Weapons hawkers flooded these new markets while their lobbyists flooded Congress, making defense contractors among the most prominent supporters of NATO expansion. They had plenty of help from NATO expansionists in Congress, the military and the pundit class.

It didn’t matter the U.S. promised Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that if Russia allowed German reunification, NATO would not move one inch eastward toward Russia. The munition giants weren’t subtle about their plan. Lockheed V.P. Bruce Jackson became president of the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO. Congressman on the hunt for free goodies and campaign cash were an easy mark to forget the U.S. promise to Gorbachev.

Beginning with Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary in 1999, NATO added 14 former Central and Eastern European countries in an alliance right up to Russia’s borders. These countries have now purchased over $16 billion in Western weaponry, with endless more to come.

Overall, defense contractors’ efforts to shut down the peace dividend in 1991 has been a smashing success. For Ukraine, Russia, Europe, the U.S0;, indeed the world, it helped provoke an illegal, murderous war that may spiral into a smashing catastrophe for mankind.

Free 'Fast Eddie'

A federal judge denied former alderman and legendary Chicago political operative 'Fast Eddie' Vrdolyak's request for early release from an 18 month prison sentence after only 3 months servied.

That decision shows why U.S. is the incarceration capital of the world with over. With just 4.4% of the world's population, the U.S. incarcerates 20% of the world's prisoners. That's being No. 1 in judicial stupidity.

'Fast Eddie' at 84, suffering from dementia and other ailments, has no business sitting in a cell trying to figure out where he is, squandering our tax dollars. His imprisonment serves no public interest whatsoever. It certainly won't have any deterrent effect on Vrdolyak's potential recidivism as his life of white collar crime is over. Nor will it deter other white collar criminals. Is any one of those younger crooks thinking, 'Gee, if I get to be 84 and have dementia, they'll cut me a break so I can keep on my wicked, wicked ways till then'.

Over incarceration is one of two great injustices in our judicial system. The Supreme Court's terrible decision today to reinstate Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence is the other...state sponsored murder of bad guys we really, really hate.

Griffin doesn’t understand U.S. gun problem; likely never will

Ken Griffin appears to be just fine adding to his $24 billion net worth promoting investment in gun manufacturers that fuel America’s 38,000 annual gun deaths (Sun Times Letter 'Bad Polices', March 1). Of that, 24,000 are suicides, 13,000 murders, with just a thousand accidental shooting deaths. This utterly senseless carnage only occurs in America where the industry uses a portion of its $13 billion annual revenue to buy off Congress and state legislators from enacting and enforcing any sensible gun regulation.

But to Griffin such calls for pushback, including disinvestment in the gun industry, are simply cancel culture and virtue signaling preventing peaceful citizens from going bird hunting like his grandmother. Is Griffin concerned such disinvestment might drop his net worth to $23 billion?

Griffin then makes the ludicrous charge that failure to prosecute criminals, support police and progressive left legislation favoring criminals is the root cause of crime, without an iota of evidence. These are conservative memes preventing any sensible debate about stemming the 400,000,000 guns, of which several million are here in Chicago, within easy reach of vulnerable use by rootless, immature teens and hardened criminals.

The real flaw in Griffin’s concern for reducing crime? He funnels tens of millions of his wealth supporting city and statewide candidates dedicated to cutting society’s safety net, keeping the large pockets of hopelessness and poverty a cauldron of violence, simply to reduce taxes on his privileged class, including himself.

For 'bad policies', Ken Griffin need only look in his mirror.