We lost them all when they blamed President Obama for "failing" to bomb Syria and applauded Trump for essentially stage-managing the confrontation Obama had prudently evaded.

Who is in charge, is it the President, or is it the media's obsession to dictate presidential action?

In the meantime, the opening clash of the Austrian and Russian armies in 1914 is potentially like the current clash between America and Russia over the Ukraine and Syria, and we ought to learn from history rather than to misrepresent it for political purposes.

The conclusion of World War II saw the the emergence of the Cold War, and while the tendency to think that a hot war and a cold war are different, all conflict which is decided without diplomacy ultimately escalates to the point of total destruction.

In 1914, total destruction was limited by technological limitations. Today, there is no technological limitation to the total destruction of the world and if we fail to end the current Cold War through diplomatic agreement, it is only a matter of time before somebody pulls the nuclear trigger out of fear, paranoia or error and the entire world will be destroyed.

And so, anybody who is still deluded by the suggestion that an enemy is a target that must be destroyed ought to study history more carefully because there is a fine line between war and self-destruction and it should not be crossed.