Standing at the Brink

Years ago, while living in England, I saw some graffiti on an overpass that declared “War is Obsolete”. This was in the glory days of the “Ban the Bomb” movement. There were well-intentioned people who favored unilateral nuclear disarmament. The British could afford to think that way, because the American bombs could be counted on to keep the Russians in check.At the time, I wrote a magazine article that opined that war was far from obsolete—that history told us Man had never developed a weapon he did not eventually use. Time passed, and so did my opinion. In fact,