We live in a fractured world that is breaking up in slow motion.
The many gruesome conflicts and blood-letting continue unabated. These will birth new and more brutal conflicts in the years ahead. It is a sad fact that the entire world is in perpetual conflict, wars with no end.
The entire fabric of stable global governance is being torn to shreds. Recovery, stability and sanity will evade us for decades to come.
The bloody carnage in war-torn areas has morphed into brutal civil wars. Treachery has been a cardinal feature of US foreign policy for more than 50 years. History will record 2023/4 as a brutal year for humankind – with bombs, missiles and chemical weapons.
History will record that regime change in various countries served as a catalyst to trigger the migrant crisis in North America. US foreign policy over the past 20 years played a crucial role in destabilising the globe. Sadly American leaders over the past 50 years were unable to distinguish friend from foe, with blinkers on as they brazenly defied the world.
Religious intolerance and sectarian violence have left their deadly imprint on the battlefields of this blood-soaked planet where wars have become the symbols of an emerging new world order.
Exotic new weapons could obliterate the human race in 60 minutes. Leaders are blissfully unaware that their deranged strategies are seconds away from Armageddon. US president John F Kennedy said in September 1961: “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”
Lasting peace cannot be built while we are reviling or hating others. Permanent peace will have to prevail on this planet. The other alternative is annihilation in a global conflict. Often dubbed a mirage, peace can be a reality for each of us if we have faith in our innate power to do good, be good, and see good. (Divide Discourse October 25, 1974). Martin Luther King jr said: “The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”
Trade wars and new populist right-wing governments are fanning the flames of potential conflicts. The fight for resources on a global scale will usher in new conflicts that will decide the fate of humankind. The US lost in Korea; it was defeated in Vietnam; it was driven out of Lebanon; it was forced to leave Iraq; and it abandoned Afghanistan.
Let us not forget that former president Trump wanted to disband and leave Nato. The next immense conflict will be in the South China Sea. It could set Asia on fire, and involve the whole of humanity.
* Farouk Araie, Johannesburg.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media
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