Under advisement from the Washington Examiner‘s Graeme Jennings and Fox News’ Ashley Moir, I spent Wednesday evening binge watching HBO’s new miniseries “Chernobyl.” For me, this recounting of the events of 1986, when a nuclear reactor breached at a power plant in present-day Ukraine, the series has provoked five takeaways.
1.) We’re lucky America won the Cold War
That’s the understatement of the last century, of course. But one major takeaway of “Chernobyl “is the Soviet Union’s consistent and capricious disregard for the environment and for human life. While there were many heroes at Chernobyl, the Soviet impulse for personal “CYA” political protection and bureaucratic obfuscation was omnipresent. The show draws out those impulses. More than that, it reminds us how lucky the world is that America won the Cold War.
For all our flaws, our system of government was and remains far superior to and more accountable than Soviet socialism. What Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and even Mikhail Gorbachev failed to understand is that politicians are fallible and the central party thus inherently so. In the Soviet system, accountability was born to die. In the American system, elections, institutions, and an independent media ensure accountability in the human interest ultimately prevails.
2.) Putin would have been happy to fund HBO’s series
One might imagine that the Russians would be upset with this series. After all, it doesn’t necessarily present a glowing history of central governing authority in the vein of Vladimir Putin’s regime. But I actually think Putin would have been happy to fund this series, had HBO asked him to do so (which I’m quite confident they did not!).
The Russians are desperate to keep Europe reliant on natural gas and oil. Those export markets give Putin the revenue to sustain his regime. Without them, Russia would be penniless and drowning in poverty. (Its economy will likely be overtaken by Mexico’s in the next decade.) But what if the Europeans embraced nuclear power as a substitute for gas and oil? Well, Russia would have a big problem. That’s why Putin funds Western environmentalist movements to protest the use and exploration of other forms of energy. Anything with an anti-nuclear message — even a show highlighting a risk almost nonexistent today due to safeguards at modern nuclear plants — will lead some ill-informed viewers to fear nuclear power. That makes Chernobyl an opportunity for KGB active measures 101: the cultivation of fear and a few very selective facts to inculcate false understandings.
3.) Some politicians still think like the Soviet leadership
Nationalizing every major economic sector is a recipe for gross mismanagement, political corruption, and eventually, great human suffering. Although history proves this reality, some politicians still think like the Soviets. There’s Jeremy Corbyn of Britain’s Labour Party opposition, who wants to renationalize private sector industries and return his nation to the dark age of 1970s discontent. There’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. who believes government knows better than individuals how to manage individual health. And there’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who wants to throw affordable energy, energy independence, and human happiness on the bonfire of environmental fanaticism.
4.) America must modernize our nuclear-deterrent capabilities
“Si vis pacem, para bellum”: If you want peace, prepare for war. While the show illustrates the horror of nuclear war, it also reminds us why nuclear deterrence is so critical. Absent our well-understood ability to impose worse suffering on our enemies, American security would rest with the whims of leaders like Putin and Xi Jinping. Leaders, that is, who have no regard for innocent life. The U.S. must ensure that our nuclear weapons modernization program continues apace. The alternative invites grave danger.
5.) History is entertaining
I, like many viewers, enjoyed the show that came just before “Chernobyl,” “Game of Thrones.” But “Chernobyl,” while historically imperfect like all series based on historical events, does remind us why history need not be a boring, distant affair for nerds. Whether it’s military history or any other history, history is a realm of many lessons. Any TV series that reminds us of history’s virtue is thus one that I welcome wholeheartedly.
In short, you should watch HBO’s “Chernobyl.”
[Also read: ‘Star Trek’ is way cooler than ‘Game of Thrones’]
