Ever since the guns fell silent in 1945 it seems that many people have been waiting anxiously for another great war to round out the trilogy. Shockingly, however, the United Nations has managed to fulfill its mandate and avert this third-times-a-charm attempt at collective suicide. Say what you will about the UN's failures to enforce human rights and prevent smaller scale wars, it has managed to achieve its primary goal of avoiding WWIII amazingly well.
When Turkey shot down that Russian jet I couldn't help but physically cringe. We all knew that the shitstorm in the Levant had the potential to spiral out of control, but this situation felt like someone just capped Archduke Ferdinand. The airspace over Syria has become absurdly crowded with American, French, Australian, Russian, Turkish, Syrian, Saudi, Jordanian, Emirati, Israeli and Qatari warplanes all vying for the chance to bomb people on the ground. Its no minor miracle that an incident similar to this one didn't take place sooner. Now that Assad is actually winning, various forces are considering even more drastic measures, like giving the mujahideen missiles capable of shooting down airplanes; an idea so stupid even the Americans know its insane, at least this time around.
What once was just a civil war has now evolved into a amazingly complicated sectarian proxy war. It's a pretty classic geographical setting for a showdown of biblical proportions. It seems that all the countries in the world that felt the call to chaos just decided that the Levant was a good convenient meeting spot and have thus turned it into a full on barbarity preserve for atavistic savagery. With the possible exception of the Russian and Spanish Civil Wars, I can't think of any other civil war that involved so many outside powers. Its like a cage fight with multiple people in the ring, and a audience that is constantly throwing weapons into the ring, sometimes to help a fighter, other times to hurt one.
The so called 'refugee crises' in the EU, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon is so classic cause and effect that it blows my mind that no one is owning up to their responsibility in the matter. From the perspective of many regions of the world, the past half a millennium could be described as mass migration of Europeans to all corners of the planet, precipitated by war in their countries of origin and economic pull factors. Obviously that is not how European have spun that story, history being written by the victors and all.
There are no easy answers to the problem of displaced and desperate people migrating when necessity makes them abandon their ancestral lands. Under its veneer of civilized sophistication and social conscience, many Europeans still have a deep seated superiority complex over the rest of humanity. Even though migration from Mexico to the United States has statistically stopped as more are returning than arriving, Trump has whipped up an absolute frenzy of nativist rage that once again has demonstrated the ignorance of the far right in America. Really the entire developed world is showing their true colors and dropping the pretense of humanitarianism, albeit, rather gradually.
We are entering into a pivotal moment in human history in which climate change will present a challenge the likes of which civilization has never before confronted. The reality of this is now at least widely accepted, yet, only half measures and empty promises have appeared thus far. When the hard times truly begin, which judging by the data on water supplies wont be long, the current global migrations of the forsaken will seem insignificant compared to the deluge that comes. As horrible as it sounds, a major war, famine or plague just culling a huge chunk of humanity is the most likely solution for the pressures we are putting on the planets environment. The notion that at the 11th hour the global elites will close ranks and martial their respective thralls to the task of completely reorganizing human society along lines that are somehow sustainable is laughable. Only slightly less likely is that the masses will finally rise up against the system and manage to cobble together a new economic order that will save our species.
I'm not advocating nihilism or despair, quite the contrary. What is needed now is steely eyed realism to stare down what we are facing. Anything that divides us, like nationality, ethnicity and religion needs to be thrown overboard forthwith. If some refuse to let go of this tired and burdensome heritage, throw them over too. As things grow more dire in the years to come I predict rational people the world over will be far more willing to jettison this dead weight when it is becomes clear to them that it is necessary for survival. Of course the assholes that benefit from the myriad of divisions that cut through humanity like terminal cancer will do their best to convince them otherwise. They will obviously have to be dealt with in no uncertain terms if we are going to make it into the next century.
"Let nothing be called natural
In an age of bloody confusion,
Ordered disorder, planned caprice,
And dehumanized humanity, lest all things
Be held unalternable!" -Brecht
"We shall need a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive." -Einstein
When Turkey shot down that Russian jet I couldn't help but physically cringe. We all knew that the shitstorm in the Levant had the potential to spiral out of control, but this situation felt like someone just capped Archduke Ferdinand. The airspace over Syria has become absurdly crowded with American, French, Australian, Russian, Turkish, Syrian, Saudi, Jordanian, Emirati, Israeli and Qatari warplanes all vying for the chance to bomb people on the ground. Its no minor miracle that an incident similar to this one didn't take place sooner. Now that Assad is actually winning, various forces are considering even more drastic measures, like giving the mujahideen missiles capable of shooting down airplanes; an idea so stupid even the Americans know its insane, at least this time around.
What once was just a civil war has now evolved into a amazingly complicated sectarian proxy war. It's a pretty classic geographical setting for a showdown of biblical proportions. It seems that all the countries in the world that felt the call to chaos just decided that the Levant was a good convenient meeting spot and have thus turned it into a full on barbarity preserve for atavistic savagery. With the possible exception of the Russian and Spanish Civil Wars, I can't think of any other civil war that involved so many outside powers. Its like a cage fight with multiple people in the ring, and a audience that is constantly throwing weapons into the ring, sometimes to help a fighter, other times to hurt one.
The so called 'refugee crises' in the EU, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon is so classic cause and effect that it blows my mind that no one is owning up to their responsibility in the matter. From the perspective of many regions of the world, the past half a millennium could be described as mass migration of Europeans to all corners of the planet, precipitated by war in their countries of origin and economic pull factors. Obviously that is not how European have spun that story, history being written by the victors and all.
There are no easy answers to the problem of displaced and desperate people migrating when necessity makes them abandon their ancestral lands. Under its veneer of civilized sophistication and social conscience, many Europeans still have a deep seated superiority complex over the rest of humanity. Even though migration from Mexico to the United States has statistically stopped as more are returning than arriving, Trump has whipped up an absolute frenzy of nativist rage that once again has demonstrated the ignorance of the far right in America. Really the entire developed world is showing their true colors and dropping the pretense of humanitarianism, albeit, rather gradually.
We are entering into a pivotal moment in human history in which climate change will present a challenge the likes of which civilization has never before confronted. The reality of this is now at least widely accepted, yet, only half measures and empty promises have appeared thus far. When the hard times truly begin, which judging by the data on water supplies wont be long, the current global migrations of the forsaken will seem insignificant compared to the deluge that comes. As horrible as it sounds, a major war, famine or plague just culling a huge chunk of humanity is the most likely solution for the pressures we are putting on the planets environment. The notion that at the 11th hour the global elites will close ranks and martial their respective thralls to the task of completely reorganizing human society along lines that are somehow sustainable is laughable. Only slightly less likely is that the masses will finally rise up against the system and manage to cobble together a new economic order that will save our species.
I'm not advocating nihilism or despair, quite the contrary. What is needed now is steely eyed realism to stare down what we are facing. Anything that divides us, like nationality, ethnicity and religion needs to be thrown overboard forthwith. If some refuse to let go of this tired and burdensome heritage, throw them over too. As things grow more dire in the years to come I predict rational people the world over will be far more willing to jettison this dead weight when it is becomes clear to them that it is necessary for survival. Of course the assholes that benefit from the myriad of divisions that cut through humanity like terminal cancer will do their best to convince them otherwise. They will obviously have to be dealt with in no uncertain terms if we are going to make it into the next century.
"Let nothing be called natural
In an age of bloody confusion,
Ordered disorder, planned caprice,
And dehumanized humanity, lest all things
Be held unalternable!" -Brecht
"We shall need a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive." -Einstein
