Even though we learn history as a series of events, with very few exceptions it doesn’t really work that way. Sure there are historic moments that we all sit up and take notice of, but maybe only a few in a lifetime. (Recent ones that come to mind are Pearl Harbor, Kennedy’s assassination, and of course 9/11.) So, while we all learned that World War I started when the Archduke got shot, I’m willing to wager that most people (even in Europe) didn’t even know it had happened and that those who did scarcely expected just how widespread the consequences would be.

Which is why this shit freaks me out so much. Right now it’s over there and involves two other countries and sure we’ve got a whole other war we’re actually fighting. But this kind of crap has a bad habit of spreading. I think another all-out war involving Israel is about the scariest possibility of all in the Middle East and right now it seems they’re walking right up to the brink of it.