As a young soldier stationed with the US Pershing Nuclear Brigade in then West Germany in the early 80s, I witnessed mass protests against the deployment of the Pershing II missile. It was part of the No Nukes movement. Remember that?

It didn’t seem to matter to those fools that P2 was only there to counter similar Soviet missiles in East Germany. Like today’s American populists, they bought the Moscow propaganda line to such a degree that reality was a distant concept to them.

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Well, well. Things have changed. The world and specifically Europe is not marching against US arms, but lo and behold against the new Soviets and their loser dictator isolated in the Kremlin. The throngs who should have been out protesting against Brezhnev, Chernenko, and Andropov, or more accurately their kids, have somehow found religion and finally recognize the Russians for who they are and always have been. As for protesters in Russia? Their courage is astounding.

250 people, including journalists, detained at today's anti-what-can't-be-named-in-Russia, protest in Novosibirsk, Siberia.
The courage Russian protesters are showing is beyond inspiration…Protesting war in 🇷🇺 despite the threat of 15 yr’s imprisonment.pic.twitter.com/zLraeCDFlI

— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) March 6, 2022

FNC: “Tens of thousands of people gathered Sunday in cities across Europe to protest against the ongoing war in Ukraine, with small rallies taking place in Russia as well despite a crackdown by authorities against such demonstrations.

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Trade unions called a protest in Berlin where sunny weather was expected to boost the turnout. Organizers planned to march from the city’s Alexanderplatz — a large square named after Russian Tsar Alexander I — to a site near the Brandenburg Gate. Protests were also planned in Warsaw, London, Madrid, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart.

In Russia, where protests against the war in Ukraine have typically met with a heavy police response, rights group OVD-Info said more than 200 people had been detained in 23 cities as of early afternoon Moscow time.”

To take it a step further, how interesting it would have been to see Europe aflame against North Vietnamese aggression or the Khmer Rouge. Where were the protests against the barbarities of the Chicom Cultural Revolution or the Cuban prison state? Alas, we’ll never know. But Europe coming out of an ideological coma is cause for rejoicing. Let’s hope the patient’s eyes remain open to witness the Russian inhumanity that is soon upon us.