Lips pursed, standing at the front of her elementary school classroom, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, conducting a drill my teacher told students to crouch beneath our desks – I crouched wondering how on earth a wooden desk was going to save me from a nuclear missile.

Times changed.

After the Cold War ended we lived in the most powerful nation on earth, without rivals. Fear of missiles faded.

Now times are changing again.

Putin’s rebuilding the Russian Empire. China’s out to be the dominate power in Asia. The ground’s shifting beneath our feet. It’s a hard truth – to stop both China and Russia we need allies.

But not remembering the Cold War, the last time we needed allies, a lot of Americans shrug and say, Ukraine doesn’t matter to us. That’s good news for Putin – and bad news for our allies. Suddenly our alliances are falling apart. Which leaves us facing Russia and China alone – and that’s bad news for us.

*******

Telling stories, in his memoir Carter Wrenn follows The Trail of the Serpent twisting and turning through politics from Reagan to Trump. Order his book from Amazon.