Maybe like me you’ve been riveted to the news over the past several days with invasion of the Russian military into the Ukraine. This has really sadden me that a “one man” tyrant can unleash so much destruction on an independent sovereign nation as Ukraine.
The human suffering and killing with displacement of millions of people make me think we humans have some form of insanity running through us. Insanity; a condition of being mentally ill.
Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Why has man got this propensity for violence.
What is it about people like Putin that drives them to take their nations down a destructive rabbit hole! In the process annihilate and obliterate other nations. Do we stand back and allow this carnage to go on right in front of our eyes. It’s as if we humans become powerless frozen to act. Our politicians mostly seem to be all bluff and thunder! Honestly do we think economic sanctions will stop a ruthless tyrant like Putin? I doubt it!
The democracies, flawed as they are, not worth fighting for? My parents generation actually fought a war and laid down their lives for the freedoms we have today. United Kingdom is probably one of the oldest democracies in the world we fought a civil war against a tyrant king we even beheaded him!
The European Union was forged after WW2 because prior to that European nations were always at war. Now we have a modern day tyrant in 2022 creating havoc in Western Europe. I ask a simple question can man ever live in peace?
What I at 70 can not and never will understand with us human primates is are wanted nature to kill each other for territorial gain. Why in an age of scientific knowledge and endeavour certain humans operate in an animalistic primitive way? I thought we’d moved on from the law of the jungle “Might means Right!
Descriptively, it asserts that a society’s view of right and wrong is determined by those in power, with a meaning similar to “History is written by the victors“. That is, although all people have their personal ideas of the good, only those strong enough to overcome obstacles and enemies can put their ideas into effect, and spread their own standards to society at large. Montague defined kratocracy or kraterocracy (from the Greek κρατερός krateros, meaning “strong”) as a government based on coercive power, by those strong enough to seize control through physical violence or demagogicmanipulation.
As a child growing up on the banks of the river Mersey at school and in later life I had to contend with bullies. Be they “school” bullies, or “work” bullies, these people don’t listen to words unfortunately. Bullies have to be confronted face to face. Yes as young school boy I had to say “I’m not allowing this individual to bully me”. I must face this person down even if it meant fighting him! Which in number of cases it did unfortunately.
Individuals like nations have to have the courage of their convictions to overcome fear and act against the bully! This what saddens me to my core is are inaction against a tyrant. By telling Putin we wouldn’t come to the defence of Ukraine we’ve allowed him to make us look “weak” with his invasion of Ukraine. His threats of nuclear weapons is a bullies threat.
I certainly don’t want to live in a world govern by a corrupt kraterocracy. Where the people are fed lies don’t have freedom of speech. Can be locked away or assassinated if your views are contrary to your governments, who have special police squad’s who arrest you and put you away for no rhyme nor reason and call you an enemy of the state. Then you become coward and fearful and frighten to speak your minds. Might is right no this is not a world I want to live in.
I hope that this is an opportunity for change a new way of being. We know we have to get off fossil fuels the latest IPCC inter panel on climate change report is bleak. Strange many of the petroleum countries are run by autocratic regimes. Maybe this is wake-up call. Many of these oligarch have obtained their massive wealth through fossil fuels resources stolen from their nations and squirrelling away the money in tax heavens.
If we don’t change I think mankind will move into a dark age. Maybe George Orwell’s book 1984 was correct after all! Will the cyber world be our downfall or our saviour? Have we the guts to fight for an equitable peaceful world? Let’s prove we can all stand up and challenge the bully like my parents generation did in WW2. If not shame on us!
This film is very moving of the Ukraine youth who in 2014 stood up to their corrupt Russian puppet leader. They had the sheer guts to stand up to the “George Orwell 1984” state oppression.
Since 2014 Ukraine has lived a different existence a open European democratic life style. Few years ago a professional Latvian lady sailor sail with me on Black Swan. Helena had lived under both the old command economy communist system and in the new democratic European Union state of Latvia.
Helena was very intelligent top lady barrister who could speak fluently in many different European languages and of course she spoke Russian. Helena loved travel and travelled extensively after her country became independent. I asked her why she loved to travel so much, she said “I‘ve live in both a closed and open society and so I appreciate the difference, that’s why I love the freedom to travel”. Maybe psychologically she feared one day Russian tanks would come rolling down her street in Riga.
The Ukrainian people do not want to go back to living in police state with the loss of individual freedoms and constant corruption and disinformation. Hence the reason why I feel they will fight to the bitter end. All I can say to each and every Ukrainian they are an inspiration to me. We must not let them down!