What unutterably stupid creatures these human beings are ! They are fouling their nest so badly that the human race may be on its last legs. Both Climate Change and the threat of Nuclear War are absolutely existential issues threatening the survival of life on earth, but the Moneybags of the earth just go on their merry way, gleefully piling up their treasures on earth while the planet simmers explosively, dragging down the earth and its people to increasing despair, madness, chaos, and death.
The problem with Climate Change is that the destruction of the earth comes along with huge profits for those engaging in it, and there is no prospect at all ~ none whatsoever ~ of anything changing that, short of a total revolution in the basic structure of the social, economic, and political foundations of the earth, which, of course, is exactly what I have been recommending since at least 1980 (The World Union Company, 1980, out of print; New Solutions, 1992, and One Planet Makeover). So we’re doomed anyway.
Turning to political problems and the threat of nuclear war, I want to address the madness in Ukraine, but first I just have to mention the unspeakable horror of the genocide going on in Palestine. Since my mother was Armenian, I have a problem with genocide, and what’s going on in Palestine really churns my stomach. It is so awful that I can’t even imagine any way to deal with it. I usually have an answer for everything. Of course I may be wrong about anything I say, but at least I usually have some idea of how to approach a problem. But in the case of the Israeli genocide going on in Palestine (I have stopped calling it “Israel” in disgust) I can see no resolution short of the total makeover of the planet already mentioned as the only solution to the problem of Climate Change caused by the rape of the earth by the Robber Barons.
So that leaves my desk clear to address the rampaging madness going on over in Ukraine. Before composing my own thoughts, I decided to review what Noam Chomsky had to say about it back on April 14 2022: Noam Chomsky and Jeremy Scahill on the Russia-Ukraine War . . . . This interview was so stunning, incisive, and perceptive, that I urge everyone to read that article again.
A few highlights: there are only two ways the war can end ~ either Russia or Ukraine will be destroyed, or there will be some negotiated settlement. Russia will not accept being destroyed, so the alternatives to nuclear war and the annihilation of the human race boil down to two options ~ either Ukraine is destroyed, or there is a negotiated settlement. As Noam Chomsky explains in detail, the United States and the munitions industries profiting from war and rumors of war all over the world have no interest at all in any negotiation, no more than Netanyahu has any intention of any other ending to the Palestinian Genocide other than the entire annihilation and obliteration of every Palestinian, to the last man, woman, and child, and the total confiscation of all of their land, which has been going on since 1948.
Chomsky quotes national security adviser Jake Sullivan as saying, “At the end of the day, what we want to see is a free and independent Ukraine, a weakened and isolated Russia, and a stronger, more unified, more determined West.”
Does anyone remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962 ? To refresh your memory, just consider the recent decision to set up long range missiles on German soil aimed at Russia. The problem with the whole approach of NATO (read: “the United States government”) is that Russia is not going to be happy with these developments. Like schoolboys on a playground, neither side is going to back down and just go away quietly. A schoolboy scuffle kicks up a lot of dust, but when one considers the United States and Russia going at it, the prospect is somewhat bleaker.
“Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister announced at the beginning of the invasion that Russia had two main goals — two main goals. Neutralization of Ukraine and demilitarization.” So that looks to me like the basis of a negotiated settlement. Of course the steady encroachment of NATO right up to the borders of Russia, in spite of promises to the contrary, has been the major provocation all along. So how about an agreement to vacate all plans for Ukraine to become part of NATO ? If the West agreed to leave Ukraine as a permanent neutral buffer between Western Europe and Russia, that might break some of the ice. The West could easily make further concessions, such as allowing Russia to retain Crimea, and repealing most of the sanctions against Russia. In return, Russia takes its toys and goes home, leaving the occupied territories of Eastern Ukraine. Both sides would agree to “demilitarization” ~ the US could cancel plans to install missiles in Germany, and Russia could remove missiles in Belarus, for starters.
All of this would still leave trillions of dollars worth of devastation in Ukraine to be dealt with, but the destruction could at least stop there and then, and the threat of nuclear annihilation could be abated “for the time being” at least.
I like a solution in which everyone gets to go on living.
The Laughing Clown having the last laugh
