THE UGLY FACE OF MODERN WARFARE

We are now deliberately targeting civilians.

War is ugly, period.  There is no such thing as a great battle, as in, oh boy, we haven’t had this much fun since a pig raced across our Christmas table.  The face of war, past or present, has never been fought exclusively between armies.  Caught in the crossfire there have always been civilian casualties and structural damage.  Historically plunder and pillaging appears to have been part and parcel of armed conflict.  Difficult for innocent civilians to escape the mayhem when frequently they were caught up in the fray because they happened to find themselves trapped in between armies.  That is not the case today.  Most of the killing is now done remotely by armed drones and missiles, not aimed at an opponent’s army, but purposely at civilians: cities, hospitals, apartments, schools and critical infrastructures such as railroads, bridges and power generating stations.

The face of war has changed.

It is now all about demoralizing the civilian population through inflicting extreme suffering and deprivation, through a massive loss of lives and property and denying people access to food, safety and shelter.  Forcing an enemy to surrender by targeting civilians primarily and weaponizing essentials.  Bomb the enemy into submission by killing the innocent and forcing its leadership into a moral dilemma; how many of our people, men, women and children have to die before the madness stops?

Civilian carnage.

Hungry and destitute civilians living in makeshift shelters and constantly forced to move are not the kind of people that can fight back effectively and none of those engaged in the killing are physically affected by the carnage they unleash because it is all done remotely.  Do they even suffer psychologically when all they observe is images of the aftermath of bombs dropped?  Images of destruction.  Only those involved in up close physical combat experience the full psychological impact of killing.  Not that it changes the result.  Modern armies resort to remote killing because it spares those pushing the buttons from the emotional impact of live combat.  But aerial bombardments can only achieve so much.  The psychological damage inflicted on the survivors on the ground can leave harmful impressions for decades.  Trust shattered.  Animosity lingering for generations.  A hatred for the enemy always close to the surface.  Today’s aggressors, the U.S. Israel and Russia don’t even realize what they have unleashed by raining down baseless destruction from the skies.

Turning people into killing machines.

We’re not programmed to kill and when the beast within is unleashed it leaves behind permanent scars long after the actual fight is over.  Increasingly those nations involved in armed conflicts are resorting to these inhumane strategies of deliberately killing civilians remotely, using bombs and drones, unless they are forced through poverty and a lack of funding to fight and kill the old fashioned way; armed combat and up close.  The Rwandan genocide, July 1994.(just one example, nearly a million people ‘hacked’ to death)

Losing our humanity.

One thing that comes shining through in the current conflicts is our lack of concern, of empathy, and serious attempts to put an end to the carnage and suffering.  Lip service.  Pictures.  Casualty counts.  Estimates of damage.  War reduced to statistics.  And it is not just wars vying for our attention.  Our human numbers are under siege on a number of different fronts and battlefields.  We have a lot on our plate: Rampant drug use, a housing shortage and lack of affordability, cyber hacking and fraud, scams, blackmail and extortion, all of them following the strategies of modern warfare, increasingly more sophisticated and most of it done remotely.  Culprits hiding behind screens and using the latest in technologies to inflict as much damage as they can.  None of them care about the cruelty they inflict and as a society we appear at a loss to put a stop to it.  Those in charge and inflicting most of the damage (Russia, Israel and the U.S.) appear rather blasé, arrogant and indifferent about their actions or lack of, even bragging on national television about the lethality of their weapons and how effective they are.  Killing innocent people remotely is something to brag about to mom and dad?  No remorse.  No apologies.  “Maybe our rockets hit the hospital, maybe not.  We’re looking into it.”

Have they lost our minds?  The aggressors involved in current conflicts are purposely creating an existentialist crisis.  As if their very existence is threatened by the nations they are attacking and they are using an almost apocalyptic mindset to validate their actions.

An apocalyptic mindset has been created by the participants, justifying their actions and the rhetoric used by the belligerents sounds awfully familiar and hollow.  “We have no choice.  They are terrorists.  Bad people.  We’re forced to take a stand.  Only we are prepared to take the fight to them while the rest of the world watches.”  The flimsy excuses are like water flowing through a sieve.

Cuba, Gaza, Ukraine, Venezuela, threats against sovereign nations to annex territories and entire nations (Canada and Greenland!)

America, under Obama’s watch, started to normalize its relationship towards Cuba.  You can only hold grudges for so long and this island nation has never posed a real threat since the Cuban missile crisis.  They’re poor and without tourism they’re dead in the water.  Trump, bearing a grudge against all things Obama has ever accomplished, had been hell bent ever since he became president, to undo everything Obama has done.  A vengeful psychopath obsessed with anyone he has ever crossed paths with and who didn’t kiss his ass.  The last bit is not some spurious venting on my part.  Ever since taking office his policies have resulted in unmitigated disasters.  Tariffs, sanctions, threats, bullying and blockades, the quagmire created by Trump and company cannot be obfuscated by blowing smoke up everybody’s ass (hence the original ass reference!).  This is not part of a new global order, but total chaos created by moving forward with non-stop political and military blundering.

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Picking conflicts with those who cannot defend themselves.

Around the world, safely away from the real conflict, pro and con Iranian factions are demonstrating and waving flags and putting their spin on Trump and Netanyahu’s unilateral decision to declare war on Iran, to gain control of the region and institute regime change (The favorite pastime of Trump and company).

Iranians know that no matter who runs the country, they are faced with a huge uphill battle.  Will it be an Iranian state free from foreign interference?  Without economic strings attached from the U.S. and Israel?  Will it put an end to economic sanctions, to industrial acts of sabotage and the bombing of their nuclear programs?  Do outsiders decide who gets to do what and how?  The nation has already been set back for decades because of western interference, actions and activities.  If past western actions taken against Iran are any indication, it won’t really matter who gets to lead.  Are puppet regimes the answer to make sure that the superpowers remain firmly in charge?  And . . . will the Iranians go back home once a regime of their liking is put in place?  Want to make a bet that most of them will prefer to stay here, warm and cozy and well away from the Middle East?

Take an honest look at the toll modern conflicts have taken on civilian populations and it must be obvious that the powerbrokers responsible for the casualties and destruction don’t give a damn.  Human lives mean nothing to them.

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As a writer I am an observer and interpreter and I don’t take sides.  Start weighing the sins of all sides on the scales of justice and you’ll be in a courtroom arguing the case for decades and you still end up with a hung jury.  We’re a flawed and fragile species moved by the flow of energy and momentum.  Our habit of bundling negative energy until it explodes is only intensifying and that concerns me as a writer.