And yet there are plenty of histories today that challenge the claims of the past’s winners. A part of studying historical literature is discerning and accounting for the bias of the authors and correlating it with other sources. A part of studying history in turn is matching up what you find in literature with what archaeology finds.

History isn’t done once the event has happened. Even if the oligarchs win this war, it’s unlikely they’ll be the ones to build the Actually Really Eternal Empire (Forever This Time) that manages to suppress all study of history ever.

The winner may write history, but they’re not the only ones to ever read it.

We’re about to see how the next elections turn out. Maybe all is not lost yet.

That would risk direct conflict between nuclear powers. I’m not sure that’s a gamble we should take.

I’m not sure we shouldn’t take it either. I don’t know, really. But it’s scary.

The world will continue to exist and some portion of mankind probably will survive too. At some point, historians will dissect the current crisis – whatever the outcome – with the same scrutiny as today’s historians examine other past events.

And I hope they won’t face the same issues as today’s historians, who have to watch as their departments are cut down one by one while their cries of alarm go unheard.