Americans are dangerously casual about war with Russia and China


The war in Afghanistan was the longest in U.S. history. The war in Iraq has killed perhaps as many as a million people. U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition intervention in Yemen's civil war contributed to the most acute humanitarian crisis on the planet. These and other U.S. military misadventures of the past two decades will cost us, and our children, and our children's children trillions of dollars.
But, as wars go, these were easy — for us. The fear of a large-scale terror attack that was widespread after 9/11 quickly faded. There were no home front deprivations. Schoolchildren didn't practice hiding under desks. We hung no blackout curtains. We were never at risk of invasion or airstrike. Indeed, our enemies in these last two decades generally had no airpower, let alone ballistic missiles capable of crossing the Atlantic. The war on terror has been long, brutal, and costly, but there was never a scenario in which we would be conquered.
That recent history, argued writer Freddie deBoer on Substack on Tuesday, has left too many Americans dangerously naïve and casual about war with Russia and China, nations far closer to being our military peers:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
[W]e've gotten to a point where so many people feel comfortable getting cavalier about war with Russia. Yes, of course the Commentary crowd is raring to jump into a war that generations grew up dreading. But there's a remarkable amount of mainstream fervor for being "strong" and "assertive" with Russia right now, and I can only guess that it largely stems from the fact that we've been insulated from the horrors of war really since Vietnam, thanks to the unipolarity of the post-Cold War world, the remarkable advances in emergency medicine made in the past 50 years, and our increasing focus on a "nimble" army. These things have made conflict easier to bear for a citizenry that, in turn, doesn't fear conflict the way it should. [Freddie deBoer, on Substack]
In his conclusion, deBoer turns from the recklessness of the commentariat to that of the general public, whom he chastises as a "distracted and desensitized country that can't remember the horrors of combat" and will now perhaps be led into great power conflict by leaders whose own families will be insulated from its destruction.
I can't deny that this dark forecast is plausible, or that the public has some degree of moral culpability for the callowness deBoer observes. Still, I hope the lesson won't be written in blood.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
The anger fueling the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez barnstorming tour
Talking Points The duo is drawing big anti-Trump crowds in red states
-
Why the GOP is nervous about Ken Paxton's Senate run
Today's Big Question A MAGA-establishment battle with John Cornyn will be costly
-
Russia's spring offensive: what does it mean for Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Ukraine's military campaigner says much-anticipated offensive has begun
-
Bombs or talks: What's next in the US-Iran showdown?
Talking Points US gives Tehran a two-month deadline to deal
-
Kaja Kallas: the EU's new chief diplomat shaping the future of European defense
In the Spotlight The former Estonian Prime Minister's status as an uncompromising Russia hawk has gone from liability to strength
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
-
Did Vladimir Putin just play Donald Trump?
Today's Big Question The Russian president rejected a full ceasefire after long conversation with his US counterpart
-
U.S. aid resumes as Ukraine agrees to cease-fire
Feature As Trump pressures Ukraine, NATO and European allies weigh new strategies