A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
OUR VIEW
Stepping back
from the brink
on Ukraine
R
ussia’s invasion of Ukraine is troubling, to be sure.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s unwarranted, brutal
aggression destabilizes not only Europe, but the world.
Yet some of the reactions by commentators, both in print and on
TV and radio, have been a bit hysterical.
References to Russia’s invasion being the possible precursor to
“World War III,” for instance, have been numerous.
This implies that the circumstances today are comparable to the
situations at the onset of the fi rst and second world wars. This is not
convincing. Worse, it frightens people unnecessarily.
One prominent reason the First World War broke out a month
after the June 28, 1914, assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdi-
nand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is the series of rigid alliances
among world powers including Germany, Russia, England and
France. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hasn’t, and needn’t, trig-
ger anything like the responses that followed Germany’s invasion
of Belgium in August 1914. In addition, the comparatively crude
nature of early 20th century armies — which relied far more on the
horse than on the truck (tanks were unknown and airplanes all but
irrelevant) — meant that those armies needed days or even weeks
to get ready for combat. This reality prompted governments to order
mobilizations lest they give their opponents an advantage. The
result was an inexorable progression toward a wider war, a domi-
no-like situation that has no parallel among modern militaries.
Nor does a comparison hold between Putin’s actions and the
onset of World War II. Although there might seem to be a superfi -
cial similarity in Putin’s past aggression in Georgia and the Crimea,
and Hitler’s expansionist policies in the 1930s, Hitler did not have
the then-unimaginable deterrent of America’s nuclear capacity to
counter his megalomania.
Yet a recent analysis by John Daniszewski of The Associated
Press referred to “a nightmarish outcome in which Putin’s ambi-
tions in Ukraine could lead to a nuclear war through accident or
miscalculation” and “the disturbing possibility that the current fi ght-
ing in Ukraine might eventually veer into an atomic confrontation
between Russia and the United States.”
It’s certainly a disturbing vision.
But it’s hardly a new one. Moreover, it strains credulity to
believe that the invasion of Ukraine poses a more grave threat of
a nuclear confrontation than Cold War episodes such as the Berlin
Airlift in 1948, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, and the
wars in Korea and Vietnam.
Daniszewski references the doctrine of MAD — Mutual Assured
Destruction. That’s the idea, ugly though it surely is, that the num-
ber of nuclear warheads is so great that any large-scale exchange
of such weapons would prove so devastating to both sides — the
U.S. and the Soviet Union, during the Cold War — that neither side,
no matter the circumstances or the provocation, would ever initiate
such a war.
Daniszewski then writes that “amazingly, no country has used
nuclear weapons since 1945.”
But that’s not amazing at all. It shows only that political leaders,
despite often acting irrationally, including starting or escalating con-
ventional wars, have consistently recognized the singular threat that
a full-scale nuclear exchange represents and refused, for nearly 77
years, to take that irreversible step.
Putin did, in his address prior to Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24,
state that “today’s Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear
states.”
But that sort of saber-rattling is hardly surprising given not only
Putin’s record, but those of his predecessors in the USSR. When
Nikita Khrushchev said in 1956 that “we will bury you” his
remark, although misunderstood as a physical threat to the West
rather than a claim that communism would triumph over capital-
ism, did not, to use Daniszewski’s words, “veer into an atomic
confrontation.”
It is of course reasonable to consider the possible wider
implications of Putin’s bellicosity. But hyberbolic allusions to
1914 and 1939 not only ignore how dramatically the world has
changed, but also that much larger confl icts than what’s happen-
ing in Ukraine — the aforementioned wars in Korea and Viet-
nam — didn’t lead to another world war, much less a nuclear
exchange.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Everyone deserves one great dog
“E
veryone in their lifetime is
entitled to one great dog,”
said a friend.
I wondered if that the statement
also applied to other animals and pets.
An uncle once owned a prized,
well-trained sorrel mare — his
one great horse. The uncle proudly
showed her off to anyone who came
to visit. The rule: No one rode the
mare except the uncle. When nieces
and nephews visited, he borrowed
older bay geldings from the neigh-
bors for the kids to ride around on
the farm.
As for cats and cat owners, many
related tales of what makes their cat
a “one great cat” pet. From silly cat
tricks to endearing cat aloofness to
tales of cat kindness when the owner
was laid up and the cat kept them
company, cat owners shared memo-
ries of their one great cat.
The owner of one great parakeet
remarked on the beauty of birdsongs
her blue-and-green parakeet chirped.
All of the “one great pet” stories
varied greatly, except for the “one
great chicken” stories.
They had a universal ring, and
the chicken story usually went like
this:
“My one great chicken ate bread
scraps and cracked corn from my
hand. This hen followed me around
the yard. I loved to pet her, and she
was so tame I carried her around
while I did chores. The family fell
on hard times. I discovered my hen
ended up in the Sunday dinner soup
pot. I didn’t eat
chicken for the rest
of my childhood.”
My own “one
great dog” story
began as I ambled
by myself through
an arboretum in
Jean Ann
a forest. A row
Moultrie
of Forest Service
buildings bordered the arboretum,
so I wasn’t concerned I’d get lost
or hurt. In the afternoon, I heard a
rustle in the underbrush. The noise
stopped when I stopped, and contin-
ued when I walked.
I looked over at the buildings —
not a vehicle or person in sight. I’d
visited and tracked the trees in the
arboretum for years and felt confi -
dent wild animals would have scat-
tered if they’d heard me. I con-
cluded whoever was following me
was the two-legged sort. I raced to
my car and left with the resolve I
wouldn’t return until I had a dog
with me.
The search for a dog went
into high gear. I found an ad for a
7-month-old Australian shepherd
pup. I drove there and spotted the
dog on the front porch. He barked
as I approached — a good watch-
dog bark.
While the owners recited the
dog’s history, which dipped into rea-
sons why the dog had had place-
ments that “hadn’t worked out,” the
dog came over to me and leaned
against my leg while I rubbed
behind his ears. Instant bonding.
The dog seemed to say, “Get me out
of here!”
And that’s how I got my “one
great dog.” Only he wasn’t quite
to the level of “great” initially. He
stood frozen with fear with legs
splayed out at noises such as car
tires zinging through rain puddles.
He barked and growled at other peo-
ple and animals.
At the vet clinic, the staff tossed
me a muzzle to put on the dog
before they’d enter the room. The
results of the exam: “insecure dog
probably as a result of prior abuse.”
An ad fl yer in a pet store caught
my attention. I signed the dog up for
obedience training.
The fi rst day of class, he spent
time in “timeout.” By the sec-
ond class, he turned out to be a star
pupil. If someone asked me what
was an outstanding characteristic of
my dog, I would have said, “Gen-
tle.” For all his bluster, he was a
gentle dog, especially with me. The
next great characteristic I noticed
— how intelligent he was. He func-
tioned at levels beyond dog species.
In obedience training, my dog
aced beginning, intermediate and
advanced levels. He was a devoted
companion pet. With patience and
training, he transformed to my “one
great dog.”
Jean Ann Moultrie is a Grant
County writer. Her dog enjoyed for-
est hikes, family picnics, and serving
as a buddy to grandchildren.
M110 makes meth problem worse
W
hen it comes to meth-
amphetamine, there are
two certainties. Users of
methamphetamine lie, and users
of methamphetamine steal. While
not always a certainty, a third com-
mon factor is that users of meth-
amphetamine often hurt others
through assaultive and aggressive
behaviors.
Until 2017, possession of meth-
amphetamine was a felony. First-
time off enders were off ered a con-
ditional discharge if they would
obtain an evaluation and com-
plete treatment as recommended in
the evaluation. Following success-
ful completion, the felony would
be dismissed. For subsequent con-
victions, off enders would be sen-
tenced to probation that included 10
days in jail, along with a mandatory
substance abuse evaluation and a
requirement that they complete rec-
ommended treatment. Users were
given the resources to obtain help
for their use and addiction.
In 2017, Oregon determined
that users of methamphetamine
and other drugs should receive less
punishment and more help with
their drug use and addiction. The
“more help” that they were tout-
ing at the time
already existed
in every convic-
tion. Possession of
methamphetamine
became a misde-
meanor where pos-
Jim Carpenter sessors would be
sentenced to pro-
bation with a mandatory substance
abuse evaluation and a requirement
to complete recommended treat-
ment. This change reduced the pen-
alty for possession, but retained the
exact same obligation to get help
for their use and addiction.
In 2020, Oregon determined
that the laws for possession of
methamphetamine and other drugs
were still punishing those who sim-
ply needed help with their use and
addiction. Ballot Measure 110 was
proposed and passed. Methamphet-
amine possession is now a Class E
Violation — no longer even con-
sidered criminal conduct. The pen-
alty is that a methamphetamine
possessor must call a hotline for
a substance abuse screening. The
end. No follow-through. No obli-
gation to go to treatment. Simply
make a phone call. The penalty for
not making the phone call is a fi ne
of $100. There is no penalty for not
paying the fi ne. The practical real-
ity is that there is no penalty, and
there is no incentive to get help to
change behavior.
Since its passage in 2020, Mea-
sure 110 has been applied to over
1,200 possession of methamphet-
amine cases. Through 2021, of
those cases, there were only 55
verifi ed calls to the hotline for sub-
stance abuse screening. In other
words, of those cited, 95.5% never
bothered to make a phone call.
In proposing ever-decreas-
ing sanctions for drug possession,
absolutely no thought has gone into
the correlation between drug use
and increased crimes against prop-
erty and people. Further, absolutely
no thought has gone into the cost to
victims aff ected by the increase of
drug-fueled crime.
Methamphetamine users lie and
steal. They often hurt others. Now
they face zero consequence for
possession and use. Lock up your
things. Prepare to protect yourself.
Your community is no longer a
safe place, and without a change in
direction, the future looks grim.
Jim Carpenter is the district
attorney of Grant County.
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