<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class=""><div class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#DDDDDD" style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; width: 875px; background-color: rgb(221, 221, 221);" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" class="subscribe-body" style="width: 855px; padding: 10px;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><div style="direction: ltr; max-width: 600px; margin: 0px auto; overflow: hidden;" class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="subscribe-wrapper" style="width: 600px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; max-width: 1024px; min-width: 320px; margin: 0px auto;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" height="8" background="https://s0.wp.com/i/emails/stripes.gif" class="subscribe-header-wrap" style="width: 600px; background-image: url(https://s0.wp.com/i/emails/stripes.gif); background-color: rgb(67, 164, 208); height: 8px; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="subscribe-header" style="width: 600px; color: rgb(0, 136, 204); font-size: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><h2 class="subscribe-title" style="line-height: 1; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(70, 70, 70); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px !important; margin: 5px 20px !important;">New post on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong class="">Caitlin Johnstone</strong></h2></td><td style="text-align: right;" class=""><img border="0" class="head-avatar" src="https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1" alt="" width="32" height="32" style="margin: 5px 20px 5px 0px; vertical-align: middle;"></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20" bgcolor="#ffffff" style="width: 600px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 560px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" class="the-post"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 560px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top; width: 60px !important;" class=""><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178); display: block; margin-right: 10px;" class=""><img border="0" alt="" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G" class="avatar avatar-50" height="50" width="50"></a></td><td class=""><h2 class="post-title" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); margin: 0px; font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/02/04/the-increasing-likelihood-of-nuclear-war-should-straighten-out-all-our-priorities/" style="text-decoration: none !important; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">The Increasing Likelihood Of Nuclear War Should Straighten Out All Our Priorities</a></h2><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);" class="">by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(136, 136, 136) !important;" class="">Caitlin Johnstone</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="post-content" style="direction: ltr; margin-top: 1em; max-width: 560px;"><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">A Russian pilot<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-04/russian-plane-shot-down-over-syria/9394280" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">has been killed</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by US-armed terrorists in Syria.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class="">The Ron Paul Institute</em>'s Daniel McAdams<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2018/february/03/breaking-us-backed-free-syrian-army-group-shoots-down-russian-jet-kills-pilot/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">writes the following</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>about this new development:</p><blockquote style="font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 1.1em; font-style: italic; color: rgb(135, 135, 135); border-left-width: 3px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1em; margin: 1em 1em 1em 2em;" class=""><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">"The scenario where a US-backed, US-supplied jihadist group in Syria uses US weapons to shoot down a Russian plane and then murders the pilot on the ground should be seen as a near-nightmare escalation, drawing the US and Russia terrifyingly closer to direct conflict."</p></blockquote><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">McAdams is not fearmongering; he is stating a plainly obvious fact. The Trump administration<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/03/trump-administration-hardens-nuclear-policy-against-russia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">has just announced</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that it is restructuring its nuclear weapons policy to take a more aggressive stance toward Russia than that which was held by the previous administration. This is coming after this administration's<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/russiagate-helped-secure-dangerous-arms-deal/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">decision to arm Ukraine against Russia</a>, a move Obama refused to take for fear of escalating tensions with Moscow, as well as its<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2018/january/17/breaking-tillerson-unveils-new-us-syria-plan-assad-must-go/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">decision to continue to occupy Syria</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in order to effect regime change, along with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-one-fact-which-disproves-russiagate-but-nobody-wants-to-talk-about-4545d5776ef9" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">numerous other escalations</a>. The Council on Foreign Relations, which is without exaggeration as close to the voice of the US establishment as you can possibly get, is now<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.cfr.org/report/containing-russia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">openly admitting</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that the “United States is currently in a second Cold War with Russia.”</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">In a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/story:21038:Russiagate-is-Dangerous%2C-Will-Washington-Get-the-Memo%3F" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">recent interview</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class="">The Real News</em>, leading US-Russian relations expert Stephen Cohen repeated his ongoing warning that "this new Cold War is much more dangerous, much more likely to end in Hot War, than was the 40-year of Cold War, which we barely survived." In a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20807:Did-Russiagate-Just-Escalate-Ukraine%27s-War%3F" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">previous interview</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with the same outlet, Cohen elaborated more extensively:</p><blockquote style="font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 1.1em; font-style: italic; color: rgb(135, 135, 135); border-left-width: 3px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1em; margin: 1em 1em 1em 2em;" class=""><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">"We are in new cold war that is much more dangerous than the last cold war for various reasons. One is that the new cold war today, as we talk, includes three fronts. U.S.-Russian fronts, they're fought with hot war. That's Syria. That's the reckless NATO military build-up on Russia's western boarders, which has resulted in a situation today that ordinarily artillery, not missiles, ordinary artillery, can hit Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg. Just think about that and the instability. And the third front is Ukraine."</p></blockquote><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Cohen<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_zO5SJDuH0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">explains</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>how the political pressures placed on Trump by the ongoing fact-free allegation that he is a Kremlin puppet makes it far more difficult for him to negotiate on these multiple fronts agilely, thus making it much more likely that Trump will choose to advance when he should retreat, hold his ground when he should back down, and generally be locked into patterns of aggression and forward movement rather than the back-and-forth finesse required for safe cold war negotiations with a nuclear superpower.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpVBA4OIfb8" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class=""><img border="0" src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/CpVBA4OIfb8/0.jpg" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin-bottom: 12px;" class=""></a></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">We came within a hair's breadth of nuclear annihilation on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/07/15/the-men-who-saved-the-world-meet-two-different-russians-who-prevented-ww3/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">more than one occasion</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>during the last cold war, and the further things escalate in this new one the more likely we are to tempt fate again. The only reason we survived the extremely tense stand-offs in the last cold war ultimately boiled down to pure dumb luck in some cases, and there's no legitimate reason to believe we'll get lucky again.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">To be clear, I am not saying that the US or Russia actually want nuclear war. Two men with guns pointed at one another in a conventional standoff generally don't want either weapon to discharge, either. What I am saying is that we learned in situations snatched from the brink of disaster by men like<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">Stanislov Petrov</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/27/vasili-arkhipov-stopped-nuclear-war" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">Vasili Arkhipov</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that there are too many small, unpredictable moving parts involved in a nuclear standoff for cold war escalations to unfold safely and predictably, and the more tense things get the more likely it becomes that a nuclear warhead gets discharged in the chaos and confusion. Add into that the hot war dynamics and political pressures described by Stephen Cohen and we're looking at some very uncomfortable odds as a species.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">In my view most of the political disagreements I have with people ultimately boil down to this. I see us as facing an immediate existential crisis as a species that needs to be dealt with right now, and people say I should be more worried about this or that conservative figure saying rude things on Twitter. We are facing the very real possibility of near-term human extinction; I don't know how to care about the petty sectarian squabbles in America's various political factions. It really is time for us to all get over ourselves and grow up.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">This unprecedented crisis should be drawing us together, yet we're more politically divided than ever. It is evolve or die time, and we're all still arguing over airplane peanuts while the plane is in a full nose dive.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBvCVDwdXvg" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class=""><img border="0" src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/sBvCVDwdXvg/0.jpg" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin-bottom: 12px;" class=""></a></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Thought experiment:</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Imagine if you wake up one morning and turn on the TV to an emergency broadcast alert that a nuclear weapon has been discharged by either the US or Russia in the chaos and confusion of this convoluted new cold war, and saying that you need to seek shelter immediately.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">What thoughts will go through your head as the realization dawns that this is really happening? Do you imagine that you will be spending much time thinking about how Trump said "shit hole countries"? Will you spend your last moments on earth mentally shaking your fist at Antifa and "libtards"? Or will you instead perhaps wish that you and your brothers and sisters around the world had more aggressively opposed these new cold war games your leaders have been playing?</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">It is entirely possible that you will one day in the near future find yourself in this very situation and answering the questions I just asked you for yourself.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Let's skip that part of our story together, please. The reason they need to work so hard to manufacture consent for these escalations is because they require that consent. If we all loudly raise our voices and say "No. Enough. This ends now," they will necessarily have to obey. The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/russiagate-explained-721cb5843857" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">Russiagate psyop</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>exists because the western power establishment is trying to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://steemit.com/trump/@caitlinjohnstone/russiagate-isn-t-about-trump-and-it-isn-t-even-ultimately-about-russia" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">cripple the Russia-China tandem</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in order to ensure US hegemony, and if they tried to thrust us all into a new cold war without our permission they'd shatter the illusion of freedom and democracy they depend on to rule you. If we all rise as one voice and withdraw that permission, they will be forced to obey.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Can we do this, please? Can we make ensuring our survival into the future a priority right now and put bickering over identity politics and the president's tweets on the back burner until then? We'll have a whole future ahead of us to sort that stuff out if we survive the urgent crisis we are facing right now.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">_______________</p><p id="ee60" class="graf--p graf-after--p graf" style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><br class=""></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" height="3" background="https://s0.wp.com/i/emails/stripes.gif" class="subscribe-footer-wrap" style="width: 600px; background-image: url(https://s0.wp.com/i/emails/stripes.gif); background-color: rgb(67, 164, 208); height: 3px; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br class=""></td></tr></tbody></table><img alt="" border="0" src="http://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?blog=139971992&post=3846&subd=caitlinjohnstone.com&ref=&email=1&email_o=jetpack&host=jetpack.wordpress.com" width="1" height="1" style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></body></html>