C++ is moderately safe if one doesn't use it as a C compiler, even standard library does bounds checking across all major compilers, during debug builds and specific compilers switches.

There is a stable ABI inside some OSes, moreso than any wannabe C++ replacements.

Speaking of which, Rust is a very nice language, but still lacks many productive tooling that systems developers came to expect.

If anything this rationale is great input for the Rust community, how to improve the ecosystem.