Leading us to War.

In the modern West, we believe ourselves to be too insulated from the terrors of an overseas war. Our ancestors thought the same: will we repeat their lack of foresight?

Read more in today’s letter →

📖 ESTIMATED READ TIME: 6 minutes 25 seconds

Whispers of war.

The quiet town of Maple Ridge lay nestled amidst the vast cornfields of Iowa. It was a place where, cocooned in the simplicity of rural life, the young son of a farmer spent his days under the open sky, hands calloused from toil, eyes fixed on the horizon where the sun painted the fields gold.

The boy’s life was peaceful, despite the whispers of a war in Europe being carried as news on the wind. Yet still, too far to disturb the rhythm of his planting and harvest.

The year was 1917, when the Great War had already consumed millions of lives to the east of the Atlantic Ocean. The United States, under President Woodrow Wilson, had maintained a stance of neutrality, its people largely indifferent or opposed to involvement in what they saw as a distant, senseless conflict. This sentiment was woven into the fabric of daily life; families went about their routines, farmers tilled their fields, and factories hummed with the sounds of industry, not the clatter of war.

However, the safety the farmer’s boy had known his entire life was brutally shattered one fateful morning with the arrival of a letter. The Selective Service Act pulled young men from their farms and conscripted them into the jaws of war, legally obliging them to fight and die at the command of America’s leaders. His hands trembled as he read the summons, the weight of duty pressing down like a heavy yoke.

The familiar landscapes of his homeland faded, soon replaced by the stark grey of oceanic peaks. The Atlantic, once a symbol of separation from Europe and its turmoil, now served as a conduit to the very heart of it.

France’s frontlines were a waking nightmare. The earth was scarred, torn apart by endless barrages that turned soil to mud and trees to splinters. The air hung heavy with the stench of decay; a miasma of death clung to every breath. The boy’s days were consumed by the thunder of artillery shattering his eardrums, and the stench of lifeless men he had once known filling his nostrils. His nights were haunted by the distant cries of the wounded and dying.

Only a few short months ago, he could have never imagined being in this place. He could have never imagined being forced to fight and kill men he had never met, at the behest of government bureaucrats who would never know his name.

And very soon after, he would never imagine anything ever again.

Face down in the cold mud, his body nigh on unrecognisable after being rent asunder by a descending shell, the farmer’s boy had become another nameless casualty in a vast, senseless conflict. His dreams and future were extinguished on foreign soil, his life was sacrificed for causes he did not choose.

Souls for the soulless.

Right now, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians—the vast majority of whom are young men—are being fed into the indiscriminate meat grinder of war.

It’s difficult to get reliable figures of the combat death toll so far. However, most estimates put the Russian combat losses at over 600,000 people, with Ukrainian losses likely more than 500,000, according to Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General, Yuriy Lutsenko.

More than 1.1 million lives. Gone in a little over two years.

That’s equivalent to if every person in the city of Birmingham in England were wiped from the face of the Earth. Or nearly three times the entire population of Iceland, where I live.

On both sides, men are being rounded up and forced to fight and perish in a senseless war their leaders demand of them.

In Ukraine, men who held citizenship from another nation were initially exempt from being forced to fight, and were legally allowed to leave the country. However, this changed early this year as Ukraine’s situation became more dire, with the nation signing a mandate that required even those with dual citizenship to be conscripted into the military.

Since early 2022 in Russia, over a million citizens have similarly fled to escape the war, many to avoid becoming statistics in this pointless conflict.

This isn’t some hypothetical scenario. It’s happening right now on Europe’s doorstep. And it’s very possible, especially with the increasing use of US and European weapons in the region, and Putin’s nuclear posturing, that this turns into a major war the West gets pulled into.

That’s not to mention rising tensions with China as it aims to reclaim Taiwan, or the mounting threat of a full-scale war breaking out in the Middle East between Israel and its enemies in the region.

Any of the above situations could result in the United States, Europe, and their allies being pulled into a major conflict. And if that happens, wartime military conscription would almost certainly follow, requiring people exactly like you and me to be forced to fight and die because our politicians say so.

I’m a former soldier. I once swore an oath to Australia that I would give my life to defend its interests at home or abroad. But that was before I became aware of the reality of the modern West, which these days most commonly goes to war in the name of profit instead of morals.

Would I defend my home country against invaders who threaten my family’s safety? Absolutely. But would I travel across an ocean to meet my demise so that a politician who holds shares in Lockheed Martin can buy a bigger vacation house next year? Absolutely not.

Unfortunately, if the West goes to war against China, Russia, or Iran, many of us will not have the luxury of choice. Having a weapon thrust into our hands and being forcibly compelled to fight against men we have no quarrel with will become a reality we must bear—exactly as it is today for the men of Ukraine and Russia.

Whenever I discuss the concept of multiple citizenships with people, many never consider how a second citizenship as a backup plan could protect them from an untimely death in the event of war. And few are willing to face the reality of how close we are to this becoming a reality in the West today.

I’m sure the generations who came before us thought the same.

Americans, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, and men of many other nations in the West thought their countries were too far removed from European and Asian conflicts in the last century, yet found themselves being conscripted to fight—and die—in these wars across oceans for their leaders all the same.

A Ukrainian father of three with a second passport may not have had to meet his end by being crushed into a crimson paste by the tracks of a T-90 tank. And a Russian country boy with dual citizenship might not have had his body blown apart by an explosive-carrying FPV drone; he could have instead been alive and well, raising a young family in Georgia.

But no. Instead, their souls were needlessly consumed.

In a large part due to the United States government pressuring Ukraine not to consider a ceasefire, and the refusal of the US president even to consider a conversation with Putin to resolve or end the conflict.

Our leaders are soulless warmongers.

Their actions prove that they will use the flesh of innocent men to fuel their engines of corruption.

In light of this grim fact, securing another passport transcends being a mere convenience. Instead, it could become a strategic act of self-preservation.

A second citizenship isn't just about embracing the world—it's about ensuring you have a place in it, beyond the possible reach of conscription's cold hand. A way to flee certain death, if the drums of war continue to beat in the hearts of our nations.

And it’s clear the drums of war are beating.

Don’t let their warning fall on deaf ears.

Written by Leon Hill.
Founder, Anticitizen.

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