Atrocity Porn

by Phyllis Chesler

I think of it as atrocity porn and we are all addicted to it, riveted to our screens, horrified, as we watch the incoming footage from Ukraine. Large residential buildings reduced to large piles of rubble. Maternity hospitals, a children’s cancer hospital bombed, blood and bodies everywhere. Long lines of elderly and disabled women and children on the road. Couples kissing goodbye, perhaps forever. And now we are being told that in addition to the bombing of nuclear power plants, there are 20-30 biological warfare labs in Ukraine, partly funded by the United States. Putin may bomb them, too. Radioactive clouds, chemical warfare drifting our way?

Putin will not stop. Like Hitler, he will have to be stopped. But at what price? China and Iran happily watch the carnage. The West dithers, the world holds its breath, our futures uncertain.