Ever since Russian president Vladimir Putin made the appalling and disastrous decision to invade Ukraine, the endgame has been shrouded in uncertainty. While news of talks between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, are encouraging, we’re also seeing signs of a ramped-up turn toward militarism by everyone involved.

Yesterday, Putin put took the unprecedented step of putting Russian nuclear forces on high alert, a reckless escalation that, posturing or not, significantly ups the risk of nuclear catastrophe. Russia-allied Belarus has now changed its nonnuclear status, potentially ratcheting things up further.

Yesterday, Germany, previously one of the NATO states least eager for conflict with Russia, pledged to pour more than 2 percent of its GDP into the military. And hard-right former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is now calling for Japan to revoke its long-standing nonnuclear policy and start sharing US nukes, which would dramatically escalate nuclear tensions.