09.03.08
Global unity or total disaster
I have to say that I’m puzzled, very puzzled by the sudden return of the Cold War between the West and Russia.
There’s no mystery about the first Cold War, it was clearly a stand off between two different political systems - Communism and Democracy. The Soviet Union lost that war and has since enthusiastically adopted Western democracy and the previously much hated capitalist system.
So why the stand off? I think it can be put down to the age old problem of human tribal conflict. Effectively, the Russians do not yet feel they are a part of the ‘Western tribe’. They still see themselves, with much justification in my opinion, as a tribe that is still under serious threat from the Western tribe.
A couple of years ago I wrote an article about such tribal conflicts and the urgent necessity for global unity, in other words the evolvement of just one global (human) tribe, as a means of avoiding such conflicts.
The manner in which humans have conducted political and military affairs throughout history changed forever at 5:30 a.m. local time on 16th July, 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA.
This was the historic moment when the first nuclear device was exploded. The event marked the single most important development in the history of human endeavour. For the first time, man had devised a weapon that had the power to annihilate the human species.
Over the ages, war has played an integral part in human activity. It has been used as a mechanism to resolve territorial, religious, political and dynastic disputes. Indeed, since the beginning of recorded history only 268 years have been free of war.
From earliest times, when tribe butchered tribe using spear and club, to modern times, when tribe threatens tribe with nuclear holocaust, the basic principle remains the same – to protect tribal interests principally through maintaining dominance over opposing tribes. It is this primitive instinct of using power and violence to protect tribal interests that is the wellspring of all human conflict.
To illustrate how this principle is continuously repeated in history, we need only analyse the short period, historically speaking, from the beginning of World War One in 1914 to the end of the Cold War in 1989.
Imperialist ambitions coupled with intense nationalism set the stage for the 1914-18 war. The realignment of the Balkan territories caused by the gradual decay of the Ottoman Empire was the spark that lit the fuse. The carnage of this war, made possible by modern technology, should have alerted Europeans to the need for a new way to resolve tribal differences.
Instead, the unfortunate but understandable human predisposition for revenge resulted in the imposition of a harsh treaty on Germany that sowed the seeds for further tribal conflict twenty years later.
The trauma of this war did spark some awareness of the dangers inherent in the link between primeval tribal instincts and the rapidly growing killing efficiency of modern technology. This resulted in the establishment of the League of Nations, with the aim of promoting international co-operation to achieve global peace and security.
However, the organization was treated with contempt and proved totally ineffective in controlling the continuing development of military technology or the age old habits of tribal warfare. The twenty year pause between 1919 and 1939 was used to make new alliances, re-arm and stoke up aggressive nationalism in preparation for the next round of fighting between old tribal enemies.
But even World War Two did not threaten global catastrophe despite massive structural damage, fifty million dead and the dropping of nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Indeed, it is likely that the two bombs dropped on Japan were the only nuclear bombs in existence at the time.
It was only in the following decades, with the spread of nuclear weapons and in particular the development of efficient long range delivery systems that the very existence of humanity was put in peril.
The human approach to resolving differences, however, has barely changed at all since our ancestors butchered each other. The primitive instinct that motivated ancient man to protect tribal interests or seek dominance over other tribes is still with us in the 21st century. While the technology of warfare has rapidly advanced, especially since the Industrial Revolution, the human psyche has hardly altered at all.
Modern humans, just like their ancestors, spend a vast amount of time, effort and money in defending or conquering as opportunity and resources allow. This explains why the arms trade is one of the most lucrative businesses on earth. This imbalance between the rapid evolution and development of modern war technology, and the almost total failure of humans to understand the need for a radical change of mind-set, poses the greatest danger to our future.
The establishment of the United Nations in the aftermath of WWII provided another opportunity for humans to make the necessary radical change. Writing as far back as 1951, Albert Einstein warned;
“In the long run, an all destroying conflict can be avoided only by the setting up of a world federation of nations.”
However, like the League of Nations, the United Nations is not taken seriously and is generally used by the bigger powers to promote their own national and strategic interests. Coupled with serious under funding, this short-sighted approach to the world body ensures that tribal interests continue to take priority.
The collapse of the Soviet empire which ended the Cold War in 1989 sparked off yet another realignment of tribal power blocs. The European Union is in the process of creating its own unified military power base to avoid the embarrassing dependence on American military hardware and the need to slavishly follow American foreign policy. A much weakened Russia struggles to maintain her military and political clout while China continues to expand her military and economic power structures.
The events of 9/11 provided a golden opportunity for the US, at present, the most powerful tribe in the world, to change the predictable course of history. The attack on the Twin Towers generated unprecedented sympathy for America and this goodwill could have been used to steer humankind on a new path of cooperation and peace.
Instead, the Bush Administration acted as humans have always acted; they declared war on tribes who they perceived as enemies and threatened everybody else by declaring that if you are not with us you are against us. Instead of developing a new and enlightened policy of global co-operation they used the attacks as just another means of strengthening their position in the continuing realignment of global tribal power.
The history of the 20th century teaches us, if we care to learn the lesson that this game of power bloc musical chairs inevitably leads to conflict. There has never been a time in history when events turned out otherwise. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that the present realignment of the various tribes into their armed camps will bring mankind anything else but global catastrophe.
This depressing but realistic view of what we face can only be avoided if the main players discard the primitive instinct of forming themselves into warring tribes armed with nuclear spears and clubs and acknowledge that there is only one tribe on earth – Humankind.
The Western powers, currently the most powerful military tribal bloc, must avoid the age old temptation of dominating the other tribes and lead the way by embarking on the only possible alternative – the establishment of a strong and effective United Nations which really does represent all the nations of the world.
The opening years of the 21st century must see the nations of the earth reject ultra-nationalism whether promoted by single nations or groups of nations and embrace a global view as proclaimed by the great Greek philosopher, Socrates (469-399 BCE) –
“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”