The problem with long periods of peace is that the people who rise to the top are those who play the political game well, not those who are good at their jobs. General Milley is a classic example: the man is an incompetent halfwit but he's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. In any sane world, he'd be struggling to run a hot-dog stand somewhere on Coney Island.

As a result of this phenomenon, NATO has consistently failed to understand threats and consistently failed to respond in a manner that reduces such threats. Putin correctly interpreted Western spinelessness as an open invitation to invade Russia's neighbors and only Ukraine's astonishing resistance has resulted in the current battle. The most likely scenario in which Russia uses nuclear weapons arises from NATO's total failure to act, and thus inaction and appeasement - as always - brings down the very horrors that simple-minded people imagine can only be avoided by yet more inaction and appeasement.