Too Much Thinking

I'm not, by nature, a worrier nor do I usually concern myself with national or international events which I have absolutely no ability to influence. Noone in their right mind would suggest that I, or any other 'ordinary' individual in the UK or probably the world, could influence the potential for an escalation towards another war in Europe arising from the unbelievable actions of one of the most powerful countries in the world. Indeed, many are wondering whether even national and international leaders in Europe have that power either.

What, even a few years ago, seemed unthinkable is now being talked about as a distinct possibility if not quite a probability.

The leader of the US of A keeps telling us that he wants to 'make America great again'. America was already great. I don't know anyone who disputed that.  

However what the current President has done is make the world a very much less safe place. Isolationism and bullying never brings true power. It brings the power of fear and tyranny. That is not TRUE power. It may be the power on which empires were built in the past. Today it simply gives the Putins of this world the go-ahead to do what they like. Today's Europe has been built on the assumption of peace. It would appear that that may have been a mistake. 

Effective world power today is wielded by economic not military might. Today many nations have the physical power and means to control and even to destroy other nations with ease. Any such action would however only produce pyrrhic victories.

In the past nations could become rich and benefit their countries by those means.

The world is too small for that now. The ramifications and the fallout from any nuclear threat or use would simply be too catastrophic to contemplate. Exercise of that power would benefit noone except, possibly and temporarily, some of the world's dictators. And they will be dead by the time the worst of the economic damage manifests itself. 

So will I. 

Optimism in Trouble

I am, by nature, an optimist. I always have been. Even as a wee bairn (English - small child) I believed that whatever happened would be for the best. Sometimes I was right and sometimes I was wrong. However my optimistic faith in the outcome was rarely shaken.

I have always ensured that this blog avoids serious controversy or political issues of any sort. I am a believer that we all have a right to our own views provided we afford the same right to others.

I hate to say it but I truly believe that this week the world that you and I have known until now has changed for ever. 

The US has suddenly declared that it has become completely US oriented with little or no interest as the guarantor of the 'Free World' as we like to call it.

Only two powers in the world can really challenge the US and Europe: The USSR and China. China has little of no military interest in conquering its biggest customers. Why would it whilst we are fuelling its economy to our mutual benefits?

The USSR on the other hand......

Israel's current Prime Minister now potentially continues to have carte blanche to commit genocide and cause total chaos in the Middle East to the economic detriment of The Middle East and Europe and much more of the world. 

President Putin can extend his empire by annexing the occupied territories of Ukraine with impunity. The Baltic countries which he covets are genuinely worried. Europe does not have the military might successfully to fight Russia on the ground. The UK has a nuclear deterrent, the use of which would be self-defeating and that's about it.

I'm 80 and will probably pop my clogs before a major conflagration involving the UK occurs.

I hope that I am completely wrong in that which I have said.

You will be happy to know that his will be the only post of its sort that I will write.

On Waking Up

I woke up with a stinking headache. That was very unusual.

It was pitch black. There was no electricity. Where was the bedside torch? What happened to my emergency lighting? I became quite disorientated. What was happening?

Eventually, after what seemed like an age, I woke up - properly.

The first 'waking up' was a dream (headache included). However, I then lay awake for ages before eventually getting up around 0630. I could not stop thinking about the millions of people in the world at the moment for whom such an event can be commonplace (not always in the pitch dark but nevertheless....). I suppose I was thinking particularly at the moment of Gaza and Ukraine although they are just the principle ones in the British news. 

However it's not 'just' being disoriented. What about millions of people who don't just get up and go. For example many people (including me) have some degree of 'external plumbing' or prosthetic limbs or are on a breathing or sleep aid of some sort. For many many people getting out of bed is not a straightforward matter at the best of times. 

And then there's the millions who don't even have a bed.

Since the Iraq war was brought to us live on television, we are now at the stage where we see all these things on television in our own homes and we take them for granted. We do nothing because they are happening 'somewhere else' to 'someone else'. 

For the time being......

PS: My next post will be cheerful....promise!

Priorities

Everton Football Club has been 'fined' 10 points by the (English) Football Association for financial overspending. This puts Everton into the relegation zone.  They are by no means the only club facing such sanctions.

Do I care? Of course I don't, even though as a schoolboy I was an Everton supporter.

However, I do despair that with the atrocities in Israel and Gaza and the war in Ukraine both (and everything else of importance) have been knocked off the evening news top spot in favour of the punishment of a football club.

Unbelievable

I caught an article on BBC2's news roundup about someone from the UN or a similar body staying at a hotel in Syria which such people stay at because it's regarded as being as safe as any hotel can be there. The person had written a review on TripAdvisor saying that the hotel was good but criticising the shortage of water. Now it seems so implausible to me that I would love to think that I got the whole thing wrong but I didn't. I might have got the detail wrong but not the gist of it.

It made me think just how bizarre are our thought processes these days. Millions in Syria are starving and dying of thirst not to mention those being killed by armaments of one sort or another by one side or another. And yet people are still writing on TripAdvisor and about water shortages a couple of miles from the carnage.

You couldn't make that up.

ANZAC DAY

On 25 April 2012 when I was in New Zealand I wrote the following post. This year is that 100th year of the Gallipoli landings. I feel as sad today as I did when I wrote that post. To those who died we of my generation in Britain who have never been conscripted to go to war owe a massive debt of gratitude. A debt that so many will gradually forget. 

Today is Anzac Day in New Zealand.  I have blogged about it previously in 2008 and 2009.  Pauline wrote a poignant post today which shows things from an Australian New Zealander's viewpoint.  Remembrance Day on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is not Poppy Day in New Zealand.  Today is.

Martin was up at 5.15 to go to the Dawn Parade in Napier.  More and more people go each year.

I find that quite surprising given the fact that the day it commemorates - the day when Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand  Army Corps) landed in Gallipolli and the Gallipolli Campaign commenced - is almost 100 years ago.

Someone remarked to me today that she didn't need a 'Day' to remember those who had died in the events and horrors of war.  That made me think.  I don't think of either Anzac Day nor Remembrance Day as being a commemoration of a particular day nor a particular war.  To me all war is abhorrent.

I've blogged before on the subject of war and the 100 million or so people who lost their lives in wars during the last century.

If Anzac Day means that the horrors of war are brought to the forefront of our minds then I think that is a Good Thing.  If it means that we concentrate on the glorification of the heroics of war then I have severe reservations.

To me all war is anathema and, on balance, I think that the more we remember that then the less likely we are to end up in another war.  I would be much more comfortable, however, if the evidence of the past backed up that feeling and that hope.