It isn't his veiled or not so veiled threats of nuclear war that frighten me-- after all, he is 'smart' and 'savvy' enough to realize that what he threatens is 'mutually assured suicide'-- if not personal suicide (since he could hunker down and survive for a long while), then the mutual suicide of Russia and the United States as superpowers, and as nation-states---
It is the fact that he does not seem entirely rational, in combination with his nuclear threats, which frightens me.
I don't want to die, yet...
As such, I am counting on the courage of the people of Ukraine, as our own 'buffer zone'. I pray for them to inflict so much damage on the Russian armed forces, that Putin will be unable to subsequently mount military aggression against any NATO country afterwards. I realize that this is selfish....but I no longer enjoy 'the immortality of youth'.
The borders of NATO countries is where I draw the line-- where we have actual treaty commitments. If it comes to that, then that is where we must stand firm and ignore his nuclear threats. This gives me a little time to make my own personal arrangements, if I believe they are necessary...
I bought a house in 2020, on the northern edge of a 'tertiary target', my state capitol... I was a 'student' of nuclear bomb effects and a 'survival hobbyist' in the 1980s--- but I thought those days were over when I bought this property. Now I regret not making more of an effort to get well outside of this city....
Now whatever preparations I might make, the whole house would likely come down on me in a major exchange-- and I can't afford to bury a shelter in the backyard... and even if I did, what would I emerge for, afterward?
I hope Putin is "as sane" as the subject of the OP seems to believe.
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