In their imagination, this war could be satisfying, could "set the world straight," would enrich and restore US and European global influence.

There are voices warning against this, from the left and right, the libertarian and the entrepreneurial, the faithful and the unfaithful. But these voices of truth are small in number.

Their arguments for peace are being picked apart, condemned, and crushed by the mob in DC.  Meanwhile, the great and benevolent United States vetoes cease-fires and prohibits peace in two sacrificial lambs, Ukraine and Israel/Palestine.

Yes, even Israel will be sacrificed in this next war.  Not because of Israel's wrongheaded greed for land, water, and control, but, as many Israelis already realize, because of the US.

Past empires ended in dry sheaves with no grain.  Their endings do not nourish our imaginations, and their endings do not teach us.  All the agreed upon sins –  envy, greed, gluttony, lust, rage – well, we like all those things.  These sins guide and shape our foreign policy.  Pride, as well, infects major capitals of the western world, with their arrogance and megalomania.  The Most Important Western Leaders of the world include a dick-waving Ukrainian comedian, a doddering child-molesting grifter in Washington, the well-dressed kings and queens of Marxist Europe, and the "crime minister" of the Israeli state.  All of them, have fostered schemes of war for years, and are doing it now, and all of them are oh so proud of themselves.