WESTERN ELITE IGNORANCE IS FUELING A FOREVER WAR

We live in a time when the memory of the utter horror of WWII is fading fast. The politicians who lived with the memory of WWII are gone, replaced by the current crop who are not at all averse to war.

The negativity that stems from the ignorance of youth is leavened by its dynamism, a dynamism that at times brings much needed change to systems which have long outlived their time. But what if the component of ignorance combines with the dynamism of will to produce changes that act to the detriment of all?

Those in this commentary I will refer to in this respect are not particularly youthful. However, they are youthful in one respect, they are too young to have experienced the horror of WWII.

Those who lived through at least some of WWII and who then achieved leadership positions across the western world had a certain attitude to war. They were extremely aware of the horrors that had taken place, of the stomach-churning tragedies that no one had escaped in one form or another. They were subsequently inclined toward engaging in activities that at all costs avoided the slide toward war. They believed in talking things out when crises arose. Crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early Sixties. WWIII seemed closer at that time than it had ever been. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in the USA advocated military solutions to then president John F. Kennedy. However, through back channels with the president of the Soviet Union a solution avoiding a military engagement between both sides was found.

Today, leaders of most nations across the western world and its sphere of influence, no longer share the urgency to find solutions that JFK did. Their mindsets are far removed from those of the leaders whose positions they took, leaders who, in the aftermath of the most horrendous war ever took, were totally averse to the prospect of further war. The leaders we now have across the western world are informed in their ways of thinking by the events of 9/11, and their subsequent belief that the USA and themselves must be actively aggressive and adversarial. Due to what occurred on 9/11 this is hardly surprising. That western media walked in lockstep beside them is also unsurprising. The effect of the universal cohesion behind a policy of determined military action while bringing relief to the anguish among them due to 9/11 set us on a long-term road to disaster.

The current crop of western leaders continue to be imbued with the notion that only a constant offensive posture against all-comers is appropriate. Unlike their predecessors, those who were imbued with a deeply-grounded determination to seek peace, they have lived predominantly in a time of aggressively deployed military power by their armed forces. An attitude of no-quarter given has prevailed, often discarded previously observed international laws governing the Geneva Convention, torture and the right to trial. The essential mores of the times our politicians have lived through were malleable, only predicated upon winning against all enemies at all costs. No existing rule was to stand in the way of defeating the enemy and scant thought was given to the inevitable detrimental consequences this would bring.

The mindset prevailing now where threats and demands have taken the place of diplomacy stems from the years since 9/11. These terrible years have seen many aspects of freedoms held dear and though sacrosanct degraded and almost lost, in particular those of confidentiality and freedom of speech. Now, to speak of Russia’s reasons for invading Ukraine brings condemnation and anyone advocating diplomacy is accused of being a Russian agent. Western politicians and their obedient media mouthpieces demand uniformity of aggression and complete silence except to condemn ‘the enemy’. It is demanded that no dialogue ever be suggested and that we must support a western foreign policy that seeks to freeze the conflict in Ukraine only to restart it after some time when the Ukrainian regime has been further strengthened. Until then we are to shut up unless we urge compliance with the majority of western leaders massively imbued with the desire to promulgate ever more war.

When the folly of the ignorant mindset of western leaders is realized and that this ignorance is all pervasive within the myriad ranks of the U.S. permanent state, of NATO and the European Union, you realize just how perilous the current state of affairs truly is.

No diplomacy. No dialogue. Only demands and ever more demands. So-called peace plans that are no such thing. The denial that Russia has any right to do anything but accept western demands. Endlessly repeating the same aggressive rhetoric based upon a totally one-sided perspective. No compromise nor willingness to understand even an iota of anything Russia has said or ever will say. This is quite obviously a road where peace will NEVER be found, only the ignorant and aggressive continuation of the path toward endless war.