Re: WARS; can we stop them?
" it's always the old to lead us to the wars, always the young to fall " - Phil Ochs
No, we cannot stop them. John Keegan, in his great book A History of Warfare, pointed out that systemic warfare as we know may in fact now be too unaffordable to continue. He then notes: " Politics must continue; war cannot. That is not to say the role of the warrior is over. The world community needs, more than it has ever done, skillful and disciplined warriors who are ready to put themselves at the service of its authority. Such warriors must properly be seen as the protectors of civilization, not its enemies. The style for which they fight for civilization - against ethnic bigots, regional warlords, ideological intransigents, common pillagers and organized international criminals - cannot derive from the Western model of warmaking alone...there is an even greater wisdom in the denial that politics and war belong within the same continuum. Unless we insist on denying it, our future, like that of the last Easter Islanders, may belong to the men with bloodied hands".
As long as people like Putin exist, as long as there are resources that must be exploited or protected, there will be armed conflicts. The trick will be to keep them at a slow simmer, rather than a raging boil lest we be drowned in poverty and blood.
Gerard>
Albuquerque, NM
Next election, vote against EVERY Republican, for EVERY office, at EVERY level. Be patriotic, save the country.
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Originally Posted by John Smith
I wonder what governments could achieve if the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the military worldwide could be used for the public good instead. We shall never know. JayInOz
