A thought has occurred to me, recently there has been an enormous proliferation of sightings of UFOs.
Okay, I know this is a bit outrageous; a bit “conspiracy theory”, but what if we are being, and have been being observed, by more advanced extra-terrestrial beings than ourselves for years, nay even centuries. What if they have been quite content to leave us alone to develop in our own way up to now. What if they are fully aware that we have developed nuclear weapons, the wholesale use of which would almost certainly render the planet completely uninhabitable. What if they are aware that Putin is about to deploy one or more nuclear weapons; an act that could very easily indeed lead to in a full-on nuclear exchange between Russia and the West.
In summary, what if they are about to intervene to say “OK guys doing that will be fatal for your species and every other species on the planet and we're not going to let you do it”.
I suppose the fear has to be that they are very, very much more advanced than mankind and not necessarily particularly friendly or patient with idiots like us.
I suppose some good could come out of it, maybe they would confiscate every privately held firearm in the USA!