Trump's Casual Threat of Annihilating Iran Ramps Up a Genuine Danger

Visiting mixed villages in former Yugoslavia before it careened toward its violent breakup in 1992, I spoke to neighbors who dismissed the idea of a coming war as simply unimaginable. But as each tuned in to the increasingly nationalistic TV stations of their respective Serbian or Croatian capitals, they were bombarded by commentary posing as news that recalled historical wrongs and alleged plots for coming atrocities. Steeped in these bilious alternative realties, the neighbors stopped talking.