- Since times immemorial, humankind has been witness to conflicts of diverse nature being perpetrated by ambitious emperors, conquerors, kings, pirates, dictators, ruthless individuals, and all sorts of unscrupulous characters hell-bent on ruling the world. The relentless quest of humanity for one-upmanship and to carve out a niche for leaving behind an indelible mark on history is enormous. The thrill of legacy for eternity probably drove all those conquistadors who left behind everything in pursuit of claiming territories across the vast swathe of the universe. Some of them, like Great Emperor Alexander, may have succeeded momentarily but the end inevitably comes most unexpectedly. History is replete with such endeavors highlighting the phenomenon.
PC: The Hindu
- This human tendency to seek unchartered territories even extending beyond man-made boundaries has not stopped despite humankind advancing tremendously over the millenniums. The unbridled ambitions and single-minded devotion to usurp territories haven’t diminished even in the present-day world. Look not far from what’s happening around us vis-à-vis the Russia/Ukraine conflict and the Israel/Hamas war that’s raging over despite the loss of innocent lives and livelihood of thousands. War’s always a tragedy. However, self-anointed custodians of the world like the USA could have played a more forceful role in stopping the mayhem.
- Notably, war will make nations do foolish things. That holds for even the most powerful ones. The US is currently sending food aid to the people of Gaza and bombs to Israel, which will most likely drop them on the people of Gaza. Can anything get more farcical than this? It’s a tragic farce born out of two things in conflict: America’s seeming inability to call out Israel’s aggression and its understandable concern at the human cost in Gaza. Of course, arms manufacturers are delighted. As is his wont, Biden expressed much anguish about the Gaza situation in his State of the Union speech last week. But so, What? Netanyahu continues as before. Maybe Biden thinks he can fool all people all the time. What’s the plan here? No plan either.
PC: The Economic Times
- Feed starving Gazans so that US-supplied Israeli bombs find them more easily? Yes, Biden may have an election to win. But disciplining Netanyahu a bit isn’t going to cost a swing state. Putin too is bombing Ukraine and killing and maiming thousands because, as per his logic, Ukrainians need to be saved from themselves. For the US, Ukraine is a testing ground for new and old weapons. The United Nations simply cannot afford to antagonize the USA nor can it impose meaningful restrictions on the aggressive Russia and China for repeatedly breaching accepted global norms for peace. When and how this barbaric situation being played out ends is anybody’s guess. Sadly, millions of lives are disturbed, and thousands of lives are lost. Hope a better sense prevails soon.
