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Notes -
One thesis is 'the US should always arrive a few years late to any world war, rather than be in it from the start.'
Particularly in the more modern technological era, the opening period of any great power war is going to be the costliest- the use of long-range precision munitions that are expended faster than they are produced, the utilization of 0-day exploits in cyberattacks before they can be patched, the shutdown of critical infrastructure to make any major conflict go to a negotiating table of 'do you really want to continue'
This is a not-particularly-quiet part of anti-American strategies for the last few decades- that you present a fait accompli and then threaten such high costs that the (American) adversary chooses not to counter-escalate. And as technology has increased, so has the ability to inflict those front-end costs.
IF you are going to enter a world war at all, the best time is a few years in, after the primary belligerents have battered eachother first and used up most of their means of devestation.
If Dean was POTUS, what would he do right now about Ukraine?
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We often disagree, but this is a thesis I will absolutely endorse. We are, at this moment, standing under a vast overhang of technological potential in warfighting. The Civil War and World War I are examples of the collapse of this sort of overhang. That is not the sort of situation we would be well-advised to enter in anything approaching a cavalier fashion.
From a sociopathic perspective, having front row seats the Ukraine war is probably much better value per dollar or per American life than the US military usually gets. At least as long as the US can avoid getting directly involved.
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