“All actions have consequences...are we prepared to bear the consequences?”
When FDR cut off oil and scrap metal to Japan he understood that they had two choices, attack us or stop their aggression in China. The fact that we were not ready for the attack is probably due to normalcy bias. The West’s present actions against Russia present even more challenge than FDR’s actions presented to the Japanese. We assume that since nuclear weapons have not been used in the past that Putin will not use them in the future. This is normalcy bias and assumes that Putin is the same type person as his western counterparts. But how many journalists and opposition leaders have been murdered in western countries?
I have been seriously worried about normalcy bias in our recent negotiations with both Iran and Russia. A persistent mistake in Western negotiations is assuming that your opponent is both rational and reasonable. To put it mildly, that isn’t always the case.
Written PERFECT. Reagan DID NOT just antagonize the Soviet Union (but he did tweak them), he also made DAMN SURE that we were READY TO FIGHT THEM if needed. So far we’ve done great at the first part, but other than adding a few LGBT brigades and an openly gay Army Chief of Staff, we have DONE NOTHING to increase our readiness.
...and yet there are TOTAL IDIOTS on this site that look at relative military spending and conclude that because of that, AND ONLY BECAUSE OF THAT, we will destroy them in any war, anywhere.