Annie Jacobsen

But in the same manner, I never thought I would hear...

the president of russia threatening to use a nuclear weapon i mean he said he's not kidding that he might use wmd that was that was his paraphrased quote did he specify like in what way he just said wmd against america yeah well you know having to do with intervention in ukraine yeah

This is like recently, yesterday.

Well, I'm guessing they're small cluster bombs that are in the nose cone of the warhead.

What's happening in Ukraine is so profoundly dangerous for everyone.

Well, it's also remarkable that we have so much available footage and so much citizen journalism that people can see these events and discuss them.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I'm not following the ground war in Ukraine right now with my focus on this.

But what I do know is that the ratcheting up of the rhetoric and the use of third-party weapon systems is complicating an already incredibly volatile situation.

You mean if things suddenly go nuclear?

Well, I think the big picture that frightens me most is that when we see the president of Russia going to the president of North Korea, our two, air quotes, arch enemies right now, having a new alliance.

And then I consider that the current president of the United States hasn't spoken to the president of Russia in two years.

And I think back to that time in history, what's known as the Reagan reversal, where Reagan went from this incredible hawk to learning about nuclear weapons in, of all things, an ABC television movie called The Day After, having the crap scared out of him.

And then realizing this is the president of the United States, realizing we cannot continue on this path.

It is too dangerous.

And that is why Reagan reached out to Gorbachev.

And that's why we have the Reykjavik summit.

It was called the Reagan reversal.

So in other words, my point is Reagan, who, you know, the axis of evil speech, like this idea of seeing your enemy as the arch evil villain, had to change for him when he understood