Contemplation on world wide destruction

Just because you have Parkinson's, it doesn't mean that the problems of the world pass you by, without a care. On the contrary, with your dependency on expensive drugs, with a complicated supply chain, for anything like a decent life, anything threatening access to our medication, like thermonuclear destruction, is viewed with dismay.

Because in a world reduced to a glowing radioactive pile of destruction, how will the pharmacist access your much-needed meds!

The reader may be picking up that my view of recent events, is maybe verging on the sceptical. Because all joking aside, those in charge seem to be at risk of a dangerous level of groupthink and lack of proportionality.

So this is a long intro to my view on the latest step to universal oblivion, the allegedly 'deliberate' destruction of the American Reaper drone, by a Russian pilot who chose, at the risk of his plane and life, to try and destroy it by flying into it mid-air and dumping the plane's fuel on top of it.

Because in Putin's LGBTQ-loathing, Trans hating brave new Russia, destroying a drone in the most stupid way possible, brings glory and honour to the pilot and his family.

We in the degenerate west can only watch in awe and speculate what it is about Russia that makes attempted suicide mid-air such an attractive option.

Because if you think about it, why would you try and attack a slow-moving, drone that appears to be unarmed and in any case has no air-to-air capability, in such a cack-handed manner?

The Sukoi SU-27 is a well-armed, modern and agile fighter, and let us be frank Russia can ill afford to sacrifice them by having them slam into a Reaper when a quick blast of its 30mm cannon shells would do the job nicely at no risk to the pilot!

Or more importantly for Putin, the plane. People after all are expendable.

When I watch the video, all I can hear and see is a pilot going "Woa, WTF, where did that come from"

Followed by "oh shit now I've hit the damn thing."

And then as the implications of his mistiming sink in "Fuck, that's me on my way to Bakmut, with a rusty rifle and paper mache body armour".

However, this is not what our politicians see. We have the unedifying spectacle of portly, port-sodden middle-aged men, sticking out their chests and getting all martial, urging the Government to ever more extreme actions against Russia.

The behaviour of politicians through the ages, blowhards as long as it entails no risk to themselves. 

Tobias Ellwood MP, who for the interests of fairness it should be pointed out, is in the Army reserve after serving in the Royal Green Jackets, Conservative Chair of the defence select Committee, has urged NATO to respond to this 'blatant attack!

This urge to escalate is dangerous and can be stupid. How many NATO lives were put at risk? None. How many Russian lives? One. In this whole unedifying struggle for TV appearance time, our politicians seem to have not noticed, that no one in NATO was endangered and whether this was a skilful attempt to destroy a drone, or blundering incompetence, my personal suspicion, only the Russian pilot's life was put in danger.

And in what way do you escalate that would be meaningful? And safe? Shoot a Russian aircraft out of the sky in retaliation? How about one of the many Russian Bear aircraft sent by Putin, almost daily, to test UK defences?

That'll teach him. Might provoke things a bit though.

Maybe not.

So would our politicians all calm down and show some judgement. There is a psychopath on the other side, who is more than capable of triggering a nuclear exchange. Russian military doctrine differs from NATO's in that it is more accepting of the risks of nuclear warfare and indeed is more accepting of the use of 'tactical' nuclear weapons.

As an aside, don't let the cosy term 'tactical' lull you into a false sense of security. Russian 'tactical' nuclear weapons can have the explosive strength of the bombs that hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Fortunately, no one in Government seems to be listening to old Toby. Or the other doom merchants. For the time being at least. So let's stay adult and proportionate. The Reaper drone was spying on Russian forces. Rightly. However, the risk of doing this is that Russia may take offence. Which it did. None of which justifies further and possibly dangerous escalation.

If we are going to risk nuclear war and the end of western civilisation, let's not do it because a Russian pilot misjudged his flight path. 

It would all be just too stupid.

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