This piece is an excellent writing that explains the phenomenon of Ukrainian able-bodied males that flee the country.
The most exciting thing about this is the fact that America (and the West in general) will be facing the very same once a major war that could drag their country into a prolonged fight broke out.
unherd.com
In Toynbee’s model, developed in his 12-volume Study of History, it denotes a group of citizens who live inside an empire, but for various structural reasons no longer benefit from it — and so are unlikely to rush to its defence. This is, after all, what happened in Rome: as the empire began to fall on hard times and the decline of the slavery-based economy started to bite, a mix of high taxes and painful labour shortages conspired to make Roman citizenship feel more like a yoke and less like a privilege. Once the barbarians came, many were disinclined to put up much resistance; and why would they?
I mean why would they, as everyday Americans face rising cost of living, their government are busy spending money (that the U.S doesn't have) for foreign countries like Ukraine and Israel. Note that America borrows those $90B they've earmarked for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Somebody will eventually pay for it and it ain't those 3 countries.
Many, let’s not forget, believe America is heading for bankruptcy. The deficit is massive, the national debt is exploding, and underneath it all lies the underreported but truly eye-watering figure of $175 billion, which is what the US Treasury projects it will need to actually fund its social safety net. And what is America’s political class doing in the face of this looming fiscal disaster? They are quite literally borrowing money to send to Ukraine and Israel instead — a move that, in the corporate world, would be considered asset stripping.
Ordinary American voters are no doubt starting to feel what the put-upon Romans did: the empire is no longer working for them.