March 8—As this publication has repeatedly insisted, the world is now standing closer than ever before to the outbreak of a civilization-ending war among the world’s superpowers. This danger has only been increasing as geopolitical blindness and a belief in the supremacy of the “rules-based order” is pushing Western officials increasingly into a direct conflict with Russia. Nations like Finland and Sweden have now joined NATO, bringing that military alliance up to Russia’s border, while the largest military exercises since the end of World War II are now ongoing, for the first time modeling a response to a theoretical attack by Russia on a NATO country.