Tupac Shakur said ‘They Have Money for War but Can't Feed the Poor’
We are They, They are we, and we are at war. Always.
Pic courtesy twitter
Today is the 10th day of Russian invasion of Ukraine. Everything from feeds on social media to discussions on groups and not to mention; my thoughts have been hijacked by war related topics. Drew parallels, looked through dots and here’s what I have…
Not just the Russian invasion, historically, the wars in Middle East, our own wars in 1971, the previous world wars and the mindless killing of soldiers and civilians that accompanies it have been justified by the Right to Protect the country narrative. We hate to conspire possibilities, but I feel today war happens for two reasons: 1) Geographical vantage and 2) War Profiteering.
Geographical Vantage points, we live them every day! Look around in our daily lives-how are we with neighbours and what are the common causes of conflicts in our societies. It is mostly around land, space, access road, our dog in their compound, their tree growing in our compound. We feel it’s our birth right to protect our space, rightly so. We feel constantly threatened. If any of you have watched ‘The 100’ an apocalypse TV show, it has lot of interesting things in terms of narrative of world building, how conflicts start, how we fight for our community and find rationale for our actions.
With War Profiteering, the money game is simple and objective to understand. If you see last 100 years of international conflict, a trail of money is not far behind. Individuals who supply weapons, states increasing taxes in the name of war; Money is evident. A classic example – in spite of a spike in school shootouts, has the sale of weapons been banned? With arms being sold in the name of protection, US is still the country with maximum gun violence. An oxymoron one might think but we know better.
Raj Kunkolienkar a well-known startup founder recently tweeted, “Web 3 and all is good, but it looks like game this decade will be hard sectors like Energy, Defence & materials”. Our generation and the tech twitter were gung-ho about Web 3, Meta verse and creating a new world while we forgot we shoot in metaverse more than in real life, Human Nature. I won’t be surprised the next lucrative start up sector would be Defence-tech and not fintech or edtech, where they even simulate war zones to train you in advance.
The Blue-Sky Sunflower, the flag of Ukraine depicts how beautiful life is without war, without the destroyed fields and dark smoky mushroom clouded sky. But we fail to realise that we were at war when Cain killed Abel in some field as per Bible or the Kauravas went to war against the Pandavas in ‘the field of kurus (kurukshetra)’. The day we evolved from a solo hunter gatherer to a community of homo sapiens, we are at war. We are always at war as we don’t trust each other or we want to protect our territory hence we justify the attack like Putin did. His reason for attacking Ukraine: NATO back off, else we attack he said. So, who actually started the war? Putin or NATO’s stubbornness?
A few years ago, I read a book on Kabbalah. An excerpt below:
We find temporary satisfaction in eastern techniques aimed at relaxation or reducing suffering by minimising personal expectation & desires various forms of meditation, nutrition, and physical and mental exercise quiet man’s natural instincts and enable him to feel more comfortable from the point of view of his physical state. This process teaches him to lower his expectations, yet leaves him in conflict with his true desires.
Our life experience teaches us that we have unlimited desires—and only limited resources to satisfy them. This is the primary reason there is no way to completely satisfy all our desires and therefore avoid suffering. The essential questions of man’s being add another dimension to human suffering. They do not allow us to feel satisfied even when this or that goal has been fulfilled. When one attains the goal he strives for, he immediately feels he’s missing yet another pleasure. This prevents him from enjoying his achievements, and his suffering is renewed. In retrospect, he sees that he has spent most of his time trying to achieve his goals, and has gained very little pleasure from the success’ themselves’
What’s the connection to war, you may think. Realisation that war is deep rooted in our human nature is probably the only way we can limit war. Accepting our true nature and desires may actually avoid war. Accepting our true nature that we probably don’t trust the neighbouring country will probably lead to less of meaningless diplomacy with facades and bring true emotions and intentions forward for negotiations and find real solutions.
I am sure you will argue that diplomacy is probably better as it avoids altercations. Maybe it was true in the past. Now if we see the way right-wing ideologies have spread out, the way news anchors in India are chest thumping India’s stand without even having sensitivity to talk about deaths in warzone, the whole me, my country, our rights, our friends; all these have shifted the way we co-existed. Is this leading to a bad environment for us to live in? No, I feel we just need to tone down diplomacy, have hard talks. Will it lead to altercations yes, but it will bring our fears and strengths both into the space.
For me, diplomacy has failed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We might prevent a nuclear war (might); but at what cost? Parts of Ukraine occupied, thousands of lives if not millions of lives would be lost by the time we negotiate/pause or even end the war. If diplomacy does not fight for the Right to Live for one life and instead accepts a few lives lost as ‘collateral damage’, is it really an effective method?
Is there a sure shot medium to save ALL lives? Practically? Maybe not, but the day we slack and start thinking we can’t save all lives is the day we will allow tyrants a free pass. The day we let them know that we fear a WW3 and hence will not interfere with the bloodshed that inflict on your neighbours, they will only grow in confidence to repeat the massacre at another neighbour’s place. Is there an end to tyranny then?
New World Order?
India and China have abstained from voting against US backed sanctions against Russia. UAE has today voted in favour of the UN resolution after having previously abstained. India explained its reasons. A little bit of history might help here; Russia stood up for India at the UN on Kashmir and Bangladesh. It even intercepted naval forces that were en-route to support Pakistan during the war. Russia was an ally. But that was 1971. Now with the Russia-China bonhomie, and our ‘complicated’ relationship with China, if these homies are chasing a New World Order, it will be quite an interesting one to see.
To support a war killing thousands with ambitions to create a New World Order! Now that seems inhumane. World Order can be created by trade, innovations, skills. India & China, both are great examples of having shifted the pendulum east from the supremacy of west with their manufacturing and IT services. Can we live in a linear word without hierarchy/supremacy? Would that be expecting too much?
Someday, I wish to understand politics, change of world orders, human nature and most importantly economics that supports and creates war.
"I will never let you down" Mr Zelensky told celebrating supporters in 2019 election. Three years ago, Ukrainians elected a comedian Mr. Zelensky as the president of the country with 73% votes. Russia wanted him to show ‘sound judgement’, ‘honesty’ and ‘pragmatism’ so that relations can improve. Well, He did all the three! For his people and how! Leading from the front, refusing an easy ride and that spine has held itself rod straight. I admit, I am a ‘biased to the underdog’ person in this version of ‘David vs. Goliath.’ A friend told me about the war, “A war always needs heroes; let’s hope this one survives.”
Till then I wish the sky is blue and the sunflower blooms in Ukraine.