I am still looking for the experts who are going to tell me how to create lasting peace, where people can live without fear of attack by rogue militarists, and countries don’t need to spend all their money on weapons.
So far, no expert has explained how this money – and the money lost through the sanctions - could have been invested to create services and wealth for everyone in the embattled areas, eliminating the need to warfare. Nobody has calculated how much freedom and peace and education and good health this money could have bought for those in which name this war is being waged.
Somehow I was mistaken to believe that the UN has the experts for peace. The UN seems to have an office or an organization for almost every problem under the sun. Except for peace.
Detlef many thanks for putting your thoughts out there, however, my own modest sense is that it is not the technology of peace that is missing, no end of people to manage peace processes etc. At least in Europe, the the period 1945 to the mid 90s (Balkan conflict) was by and large peaceful but in a context of a cold war undergirded by nuclear deterence. Of course in other parts of the world, conflict has been the norm in so many regions and remains so to this day. So what is missing? Perhaps, Putin sees that in the rise of China on his east, Europe on his west and a massive country with a smallish economy, he needed to revive the old Soviet spheres of influence to remain in the super power category. Also, mixed signals from the West and his success in leveraging the U.S political/ideological cleavages and in a smaller way in Europe with Hungary etc made him think the west would protest but do little else vis a via his re-assertion of power in the Ukraine. Likewise, the CCP which has made reunification with Taiwan, well before the 100th anniversary of its 1949 Victory, will also be making calculations on managing this optimally. So the reunification with Taiwan, or recovery of the Ukraine become articles of a secular/political faith that leaders deploy, they invest it with semi mythical gloss and purpose, so that a sordid land grab becomes something sanctified -- either by religious establishments or secular faith leaders ( Communist party of China). Its this mythology and narratives around it that become articles of faith for people to support war efforts. As people seem to need the blood stirring ( not to say blood curdling) motivations to make war on each other, we perhaps need to harness these drives towards more peaceful ends: climate change actions; managing the environmental impacts; protection our fauna -- not just the cute animals etc. As you well know, many of us in the U.N system have had the opportunity to work in the interstices of conflict within the framework of humanitarian work, we see the mechanics and drivers of the conflict and then of course the all too tragic results with non-combatants. Long standing conflicts seem to have their own lives and dynamics and become the framework for relationships between the protagonists with its own codes, modes and ways of reacting -- strangely comforting to some. If our societies and leaders peddle the bracing messages of the virtues of conflict and competition, its one thing but surely the counter is the creation of global approaches of win-win...rather than win and dominate which then drives conflict. Its not technicians, but poets and songs and minds open to sharing...
ReplyDeleteBoth comments show that there is no justification for war. Wouldn't it be great if the UN Peace Keepers actually had the ability to enforce a peaceful coexistence among peoples?
ReplyDeleteYes, Horst, wouldn't it be great!
ReplyDelete