I've spent almost all my writing time on this third and last book of the series, Innocence and Silence. I know I should post more, but when I'm this deep into a book I hoard my writing time and neglect almost everything else.
The protests and wars overseas have made writing the war scenes in the book very uncomfortable. i think that's a good thing. I don't want to portray the war these fictional people are fighting as something they would do for fun, or as a grand adventure. On the other hand I don't want the readers to suffer so much that they aren't entertained. I don't think it's as much a balancing act as being honest without being ostentatiously gory or horrific. It helps that Mark, my protagonist, is tender-hearted and is doing everything possible to stop the war, without dishonoring the reasons why it began and the purposes behind it. That part is much more of a balancing act. But it's his balancing act, not mine, if that makes sense.
My instincts tell me that if I try to tie the text to modern events, not only will I fail, and not only will I annoy a large portion of the population for no real purpose, but I will lose sight of the story on the page. This story is its own universe. Tying it to this one too much, especially to express my political or social beliefs, can only detract from the art of the imagination.