But Iran and Iraq didn't have nukes - Israel does, it's been said about all my life.  If they found themselves loosing a war for once, do you trust them to be wise?  I don't trust anyone that much, and they'd be right to think their -whole nation- lives are at stake.  And Bibi's an evil SOB.

And dunno about Russia - they may well be set up for further splintering as you speculate, but I guess you could point at the nukes being settled out peacefully after the chaotic Soviet breakup years, and defend a little optimism?  Crap precedent, really, even so - people weren't as scared as they should rationally have been, which is true of my entire lifetime and several years before.

We just can't live with being as scared as we ought to, and so don't think about it much.

Things in the Middle East didn't turn nuclear with the Iran-Iraq War of the Eighties, nor with both Gulf Wars. And those were a lot closer to the oil sources, and at least one of them turned out to be genocidal as well.
As long as Putin is in power, there won't be a nuclear launch from Russia towards NATO territory. Not as long as NATO armies don't pour into Russia (the Kaliningrad exclave might be an exception). Not sure about an atomic bomb on Kiev though.

In short, its like in my youth: living with the fear of a nuclear holocaust, but that's about it.
Post-Putin, things are way too much in the air as who would become Putin's successor, and if Russia survives his death as a unified state.

Well sure, but those were both proxy wars - inherently less potential for escalation, McArthur threatening to use the bomb in Korea notwithstanding.


One of these is a major nuclear power -led by something of a conscienceless butcher- getting a bad bloody nose on its own doorstep ... and the other is Israel in the middle east, always a match-fight in a gasoline tank, now w/ The Pig just actually stuck his hand in.

We should be crapping ourselves w/ terror over either, I submit.  We really should.

I remember the title, but not reading it. Probably did though, since back then Brin was one of my writer 'heroes' of his day.
I just started on Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire series. Female SciFi writing is definitely a bit challenging to get into (for me), but once the story starts rolling...

Lunchtime liftoff: SpaceX set for 2nd rocket launch Wednesday
WFTV
Wed, June 25, 2025 at 7:50 AM EDT1 min read


SpaceX is keeping extra busy Wednesday as crews prepare to launch a second Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast.

This mission will send 27 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

The satellites will continue to grow Starlink’s global internet network.

Liftoff is scheduled for 12:39 p.m. at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

SpaceX worked early Wednesday morning to get its first assignment of the day off the ground.

The company’s Axiom-4 mission took flight at 2:31 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center, sending a crew of four astronauts toward the International Space Station.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/lunchtime-liftoff-spacex-set-2nd-115000227.html