The Compact letter.

Ideologues wishcasting for peace.

New and improved.

Compact, a new-ish publication for a decidedly niche subsection of the right, has published an open letter on the war in Ukraine. It is entitled “Away From the Abyss,” and its content is, to be candid, thoroughly error-riddled. It also commands a sufficient number of respectable signatories that it deserves an analysis and response. If this letter is suggestive of the quality of analysis in the “non-interventionist” cohort — a self-description that requires ironic quotes, as its policy prescriptions lead ineluctably to more war, not less — then it is not a particular threat to its opponents in governance and the commentariat. This is not because their opponents possess any sort of qualitative edge, but because events will falsify their contentions at a brisk and continuous clip.