One of the arguments for Ukraine that I find compelling is that if we let Russia have an easy time in Ukraine, then other regimes will go "Oh, is it conquering time? Cool! Let's go conquering!" and a bunch of wars will kick off because the calculation says you'll lose less in conquering than you'd gain by having a new border.
Historically speaking, we're in an unusual period of relative peace, and once that peace ends it could be millennia before we see it again.
The first big period of global peace was called the "Pax Romana", where the Roman empire was so powerful nobody really bothered doing much war because the hegemony of the empire destroyed the cost/benefit of doing so.
The second happened almost 2000 years later in the 19th century with the "Pax Britannia", where the UK was so overwhelmingly powerful it wasn't really worth doing war because the empire could step in.
We're arguably in the third big global peace called the "Pax Americana", where the (historically rather bizarre) American empire has been so powerful that for the most part nobody has really wanted to be involved in much war.
The Pax Romana lasted about 150 years, the Pax Britannia lasted almost exactly 100 years, and the Pax Americana is about 80 years old today. If it collapses, who knows when the next period of peace might come about, and who knows what sort of empire could bring it about?
Presently, we're seeing wars in Europe, Africa, imminent war in South America, a real threat of war in Asia, it's a powder keg that could go off and not pushing the cost up could really help dry that powder.
Previous eras like this include the 30 years war in Europe, and that wasn't a noble war like World War 2, it was a meat grinder that caused mass suffering. This isn't a period we want to allow to return.
Historically speaking, we're in an unusual period of relative peace, and once that peace ends it could be millennia before we see it again.
The first big period of global peace was called the "Pax Romana", where the Roman empire was so powerful nobody really bothered doing much war because the hegemony of the empire destroyed the cost/benefit of doing so.
The second happened almost 2000 years later in the 19th century with the "Pax Britannia", where the UK was so overwhelmingly powerful it wasn't really worth doing war because the empire could step in.
We're arguably in the third big global peace called the "Pax Americana", where the (historically rather bizarre) American empire has been so powerful that for the most part nobody has really wanted to be involved in much war.
The Pax Romana lasted about 150 years, the Pax Britannia lasted almost exactly 100 years, and the Pax Americana is about 80 years old today. If it collapses, who knows when the next period of peace might come about, and who knows what sort of empire could bring it about?
Presently, we're seeing wars in Europe, Africa, imminent war in South America, a real threat of war in Asia, it's a powder keg that could go off and not pushing the cost up could really help dry that powder.
Previous eras like this include the 30 years war in Europe, and that wasn't a noble war like World War 2, it was a meat grinder that caused mass suffering. This isn't a period we want to allow to return.
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