The wars and woes of the world

Gurbachan Jagat

Former Governor, Manipur

THE year 1945: The sunset of the British Empire; the dawn of the American and Soviet empires. Europe was neatly divided by the ‘Iron Curtain’ into eastern and western halves — between the Western allies and the Soviets. Additionally, South America was the backyard of the US and Central Asia part of the Soviet arc of influence. West Asia mostly had kingdoms where the above two empires tried to extend their influence. The Americans took upon themselves the duty of confronting and defeating communism, whereas the Soviets embarked upon the task of spreading communism — which resulted in the famous ‘Cold War’. In pursuit of their goals, they clashed in various countries but never brought war to their homeland. The US went up against the communists in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, the Congo and various other African and Asian countries which were in the process of getting rid of their colonial masters. While ideology might have been the template for war, it was really the ancient lust for power and economic gains that was the basis. The world order, which had been neatly divided into two blocs, fell asunder with the fall of the Soviet empire and the rise of a single superpower — America.

The power game never stops and excuses for wars must be conjured up, if they are not already existing.

World War I had come about when the central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire) of the time started contesting the colonial division of the world, orchestrated mainly by Britain and France. Germany, which had joined the race of colonisation late, wanted a bigger slice of the cake, as did the other members of the alliance. The human race is driven by greed and fear and therefore, our history is the history of war. War’s immediate cause might be religion, race, ideology, a sense of wrongdoing or partisanship, but underneath the faultlines is the old dance of garnering more resources, more land, more trade, more power. World War II was pretty much a continuation of the first one, with German indignation and dishonour being the immediate faultline but Lebensraum (living space) being the deeper desire of the Nazi state. Further back, the Great Game was the contest over control of Central and South Asia between the British and Russian empires in the early 19th century.

The power game never stops and excuses for wars must be conjured up, if they are not already existing. Under this ‘cloak of excuses’ lies the desire to control trade and commerce. Till date, no weapons of ‘mass destruction’ have been found in Iraq, yet it was bombed into the Stone Age and its natural resources were plundered. Afghanistan, that old ‘graveyard of empires’, has seen them all come and go and yet nothing much has changed. In this era of atomic power, computers and IT, we are technologically far advanced than ever before. We have even conjured up AI and robotics, yet are we any different from the nomads who roamed the earth in bygone times? Our greed, anger, hate, lust or plain hubris still dominate, as they did during the times of the Mongol hordes, Alexander, the Roman Empire. Yes, we can do more damage today. Our ability to destroy ourselves has increased manifold. In fact, the doctrine of the Cold War was ‘MAD’ or mutually assured destruction, which kept the two superpowers from pressing the button.

In recent history, as then President Donald Trump did not believe in NATO and demanded that Europe pay for its security, we saw the weakening of an old alliance. This, in turn, emboldened the Russians, who were already opposing the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe. With the defeat of Trump and the arrival of Joe Biden, the Americans began to take interest in Europe and the strengthening of NATO. Their big push was aimed at making Ukraine the frontier post of NATO, which finally woke up the Russian Bear that was waiting for an opportunity to lash out. Putin made a major miscalculation in invading Ukraine with the idea of occupying it in a few days. Ukraine rallied and fought back with the full support of the West, especially the US. A fearful Western Europe once again accepted the US in a leadership position and now the objective was to emasculate the Russian economy and military. Billions upon billions of dollars flowed into Ukraine, as did the arms. The military-industrial complex of the US was once again fully active. Meanwhile, the Russian economy was hit hard by Western sanctions. China, Iran, North Korea, etc. have tried to help, but Russia has weakened and China has become the main challenger to the West. The cost of war has also hit the West, which had to deal with high inflation and high cost of living, leading to central banks raising rates in an unprecedented manner. The result is that most economies in Europe are on the verge of recession. So, what was gained by the thousands of deaths, the destruction of a country and the hardships suffered by millions? Politicians and Generals are best suited to answer that. They will no doubt lecture on the impending invasion on both sides.

Moving to the carnage in Israel and Gaza, sickening it is but not new to the region. The fight for Jerusalem has been on from way before the Crusades. The city has been ransacked and plundered many times. How long will this blood lust last? Europe, West Asia and the sea lanes are abuzz with activity. The UN is redundant, diplomacy lacks credibility and the might of the gun rules. Where will the next flashpoint be — another terrorist attack, another unilateral invasion?

Meanwhile, an ever-growing threat looms over the planet — the speeding up of climate change, resulting in unprecedented heatwaves, blizzards, floods, droughts, forest fires, melting of glaciers and rising sea levels. We have created this tragedy. Yet, politicians overrule the voice of science and reason. Our planet faces an existential threat. Peaceful coexistence between man and man and between nature and man does not seem to be on the agenda of the homo sapiens. I can only recall the words of WB Yeats:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

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