his award-winning film starring Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick) in the role of the real-life Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic is as thought-provoking as it is thematically relevant to the holiday the film is named after. Directed by Oliver Stone (Platoon, Heaven & Earth) and co-written by Stone and Kovic, the film details the veteran’s first-hand accounts of his service during the Vietnam War. If you’re expecting a “for country and glory” epic, you’d be mistaken. In fact, Born on the Fourth of July doubles down on its anti-war message and highlights not only the physical adversities of soldiers on the ground but the soul-shattering toll they inevitably bear when every decision or action becomes a moral quagmire.
Kovic, who was actually born on the Fourth of July, lives a life that fundamentally challenges his original views on true patriotism. It’s a drama for a far more mature audience. But the context of its message and eventual propositions are timeless.
Will war be less likely due to declining birthrates? When you have four sons, sending two off to war doesn't seem as much of a sacrifice, but what if you are 40 and only have one child?
Will Ukraine want to wage two more years of trench warfare just to re-occupy areas that have been held by Russia for more than a generation?
Will China want to risk their limited young people in months of brutal urban fighting trying to win back Taiwan? Or will Taiwan negotiate after the first missiles launch from China? Not wanting to see their children buried under rubble.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Ukraine certainly has taken a hit with regard to young adults of child bearing age. Not only in losses in the war but also all the ones who have left the country to avoid the war.
After wars there is a jump in the birthrate, e.g. us, the baby boomer generation post WWII.
Ukraine has very little say in ending the war short of open revolt against the U.S. and NATO. Remember Zelenskii was prepared to sign a peace agreement last year until Boris Johnson flew into Kiev and forbade him. When the U.S. stops financing Ukraine that's when the SMO will end.
