"Cannibals"

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/article/russia-invades-ukraine-photos.html

The great butchers of history:

Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao

have astute students today.

Their students have learned from the examples well 

throughout history, that sending your young to slaughter others’ young

will be met by wringing hands and appeasements (economic sanctions).

The best butchers act a little crazy but look just sane enough to tease along negotiations,

to hold out promises for peace-

maybe diplomacy will work its magic.

Above the talk, dangle hammers and scalpels. 

Behind the talk, steady hands hold a moral compass, willing to wield scalpels and hammers.

David Guttenfelder for The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/article/russia-invades-ukraine-photos.html

Protesters on Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, Feb 26, 2022.