Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ It's so surreal how we're closer to nuclear war than we've been since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it's only continuing to escalate, and yet hardly anyone seems to notice and almost everyone is just going about their lives thinking their usual thoughts and having their usual conversations.
I guess all these years we've been active in preserving local water sheds for anadramous fish habitat and building agrarian community outreach for quality food production could all be trashed in the blink of an eye because of the illusion of separation.... terrifying. We're all, every species, intimately linked on this blue planet for survival, there's is no us and them, just US. We'll continue to, not watch TV or scroll social media (except CJ of course), hug the grandkids a little harder and longer and grow food to share... how else can we dispel the illusion of separation?
I think there's a reason for this hysterical brinksmanship. However, I do not believe it is nukes that we ought to fear. Nukes are a boogeyman meant to scare us with frightening possibilities.
The real concern is the powers that be using our fear of nukes to control the population and herd us around, to get us to go willingly into prisons disguised as bomb shelters and keep us there, lying to us all the while. (okay this is from the book The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick, a book I'd really recommend checking out)
Perhaps this is a cynical take. These people are insane; they know what they're doing. It's no coincidence to have had all these articles about the dangers of nukes - articles that sound so reasonable and cautionary, articles that insinuate and imply so that the intelligent among us can connect the dots exactly where they want us to connect them -- and then maybe dredge out the movie Threads and bring all this hysteria back straight out of the Cold War. Possibly also no coincidence that the TV show Chernobyl came out on HBO right as Game of Thrones was ending, so it would get a high viewership and put the dangers of nuclear power fresh in our minds. I just feel that something isn't adding up about this subject. I don't know what it is and I'm quite confused. I really don't want us to go to war. It's silly, but how do you stop the insanity?
This is heart wrenching. Caitlin, do know that my community is working hard and has been working hard for over a decade to raise this issue. This article rings true in every way. Perhaps you can amplify our humble efforts to prevent nuclear war from happening. Our website is: https://www.stopww3.co.uk
The Pentagon is not going to allow a nuclear war with Russia. Really, they want to avoid it as much as we do. That said, accidents can and have happened, so American imperial foreign policy is every bit as deranged and demented as you say.
The Grayzone video with Scott Ritter is long but really fascinating with lots of interesting anecdotes re: CIA, UN bioweapons inspections in Iraq and even Madeleine Albright's dislike of Ritter because he refused to compromise as a UN official and cave in to US security service shenanigans.
Caitlin, I agree enthusiastically with nearly all of what you write, but I have some qualms about the "treasure each moment" theme on which you ended today's column. It's too much like "live in the present." That attitude is part of the reason that we're in our present pickle. We need more of a balance between living in the present and planning for the future.
(And many people, almost half of us, also like to base part of their life in the past, in their "heritage." See https://keirsey.com/temperament/guardian-overview/. Maybe that needs to be part of the balance too. I confess to not understanding that part; personally, that's not my own temperament.)
Capitalism does not and cannot plan for the future. That's because capitalist enterprises compete against each other for investors, and investors will move their money to whichever enterprise makes the fastest SHORT-TERM profits. That is why corporate executives are killing the planet.
And our society is steered by capitalism, not democracy. Gilens and Page proved statistically in 2014 that America is not really a democracy: Regardless of election results, the corporations get the public policies they want and the rest of us don't. An example: Every president has a big tax cut for the rich or some other big transfer of wealth toward the rich, even though this concentration of wealth is ultimately destroying the economy and will eventually make the rich less so. They are "treasuring the moment."
On the one hand you write that we should treasure the moment, and that is undeniably true. On the other you're surprised that everyone remains blase about the risk. The problem is that the average person has no power to mitigate the risk, so the best way for them to appreciate the moment is to ignore it.
Most people do understand the risk and would love to reduce it. In order for them to be able to do so, our political system must be improved to the point where they have the capacity. There may or may not be time to do this before catastrophe strikes, but since nothing else is working there's no reason not to try.
If one cares to examine the vanity and hubris that is preceding the annihilation of humanity, here it is.
Anyone denying that this is "all Putin's fault" is labeled a "Putin apologist". The Empire apologists demand "evidence" that the US is has manufactured this crisis, only to reject that evidence because it wasn't in the New York Times.
No one acknowledges that it is the Oligarchy (just over 600 billionaires in the USA, other nation's Oligarchs are problems for those nations) that is pulling the puppet's strings in different directions making this happen.
Your ending is so perfect, after all the scary information. I am also more inclined to be present where I am. To be alive and know it brings happiness for no other reason.
As ever, a brilliant article. In 1968 the protestor faced batons and bullets(i got a scar), in 2022 the protestor faces biological and digital bugs(gives me a scare). So everyone the protestor met/meets can be injured. From the drain i am circling, i am calling for inaction. Ahimsa cannot be expressed in large gatherings, for the recent past(i concur) has shown the electronic media’s ability to reshape the public perception of outdoor protests, thereby minimizing the impact of actions that have attendant maximal risk.
Soon i will be “talking” with my grandfather about what happened to the planet he left me. Now i am talking with my grandchildren about a prorogued planetary power on a personal level. “Nietos, huelga general ahorita! Thanks.
The concept of little nuclear bombs is like that of being a little bit dead. Such are the tricks of the human mind, especially when its fevered-up with thoughts of war and domination. But this is why Putin and Russia's actions were absolutely well-calculated: backing down when the Western plan from some time back was clearly to divide and destroy Russia, nuke capability be damned, is not a winning strategy. Because that is how the West, led by the US, thinks: weakness is a chink in the armour, and an invitation they can no more resist than can the blood trail of a weakened animal be resisted by a voracious predator. So there is that consolation: Russians are extremely intelligent. Losing a large proportion of your people to stop the Nazi predator, and no thanks for it either, has taught them well. They had no choice in Ukraine, it was the only logical move. If the West must overturn the chessboard, it is on their heads.
I guess all these years we've been active in preserving local water sheds for anadramous fish habitat and building agrarian community outreach for quality food production could all be trashed in the blink of an eye because of the illusion of separation.... terrifying. We're all, every species, intimately linked on this blue planet for survival, there's is no us and them, just US. We'll continue to, not watch TV or scroll social media (except CJ of course), hug the grandkids a little harder and longer and grow food to share... how else can we dispel the illusion of separation?
As a retaliatory measure, I propose we change the name of the Russian roulette to 'Freedom roulette'
I think there's a reason for this hysterical brinksmanship. However, I do not believe it is nukes that we ought to fear. Nukes are a boogeyman meant to scare us with frightening possibilities.
The real concern is the powers that be using our fear of nukes to control the population and herd us around, to get us to go willingly into prisons disguised as bomb shelters and keep us there, lying to us all the while. (okay this is from the book The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick, a book I'd really recommend checking out)
Perhaps this is a cynical take. These people are insane; they know what they're doing. It's no coincidence to have had all these articles about the dangers of nukes - articles that sound so reasonable and cautionary, articles that insinuate and imply so that the intelligent among us can connect the dots exactly where they want us to connect them -- and then maybe dredge out the movie Threads and bring all this hysteria back straight out of the Cold War. Possibly also no coincidence that the TV show Chernobyl came out on HBO right as Game of Thrones was ending, so it would get a high viewership and put the dangers of nuclear power fresh in our minds. I just feel that something isn't adding up about this subject. I don't know what it is and I'm quite confused. I really don't want us to go to war. It's silly, but how do you stop the insanity?
This is heart wrenching. Caitlin, do know that my community is working hard and has been working hard for over a decade to raise this issue. This article rings true in every way. Perhaps you can amplify our humble efforts to prevent nuclear war from happening. Our website is: https://www.stopww3.co.uk
Here's a bit of optimism for you:
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/23/pentagon-drops-truth-bombs-to-stave-off-war-with-russia/
The Pentagon is not going to allow a nuclear war with Russia. Really, they want to avoid it as much as we do. That said, accidents can and have happened, so American imperial foreign policy is every bit as deranged and demented as you say.
Aligned with your POV CJ. I hope everyone gets their boosters before it all goes up in smoke.
The Grayzone video with Scott Ritter is long but really fascinating with lots of interesting anecdotes re: CIA, UN bioweapons inspections in Iraq and even Madeleine Albright's dislike of Ritter because he refused to compromise as a UN official and cave in to US security service shenanigans.
Caitlin, I agree enthusiastically with nearly all of what you write, but I have some qualms about the "treasure each moment" theme on which you ended today's column. It's too much like "live in the present." That attitude is part of the reason that we're in our present pickle. We need more of a balance between living in the present and planning for the future.
(And many people, almost half of us, also like to base part of their life in the past, in their "heritage." See https://keirsey.com/temperament/guardian-overview/. Maybe that needs to be part of the balance too. I confess to not understanding that part; personally, that's not my own temperament.)
Capitalism does not and cannot plan for the future. That's because capitalist enterprises compete against each other for investors, and investors will move their money to whichever enterprise makes the fastest SHORT-TERM profits. That is why corporate executives are killing the planet.
And our society is steered by capitalism, not democracy. Gilens and Page proved statistically in 2014 that America is not really a democracy: Regardless of election results, the corporations get the public policies they want and the rest of us don't. An example: Every president has a big tax cut for the rich or some other big transfer of wealth toward the rich, even though this concentration of wealth is ultimately destroying the economy and will eventually make the rich less so. They are "treasuring the moment."
On the one hand you write that we should treasure the moment, and that is undeniably true. On the other you're surprised that everyone remains blase about the risk. The problem is that the average person has no power to mitigate the risk, so the best way for them to appreciate the moment is to ignore it.
Most people do understand the risk and would love to reduce it. In order for them to be able to do so, our political system must be improved to the point where they have the capacity. There may or may not be time to do this before catastrophe strikes, but since nothing else is working there's no reason not to try.
https://rangevoting.org
https://electionscience.org
"NATO was bad, so it's okay for Putin to kill babies?"
https://www.opednews.com/articles/Putin-Apologists-by-Rob-Kall-Nazi-Appeasers_Putin-And-Ukraine_Putin-Apologists_War-In-Ukraine-220321-764.html
If one cares to examine the vanity and hubris that is preceding the annihilation of humanity, here it is.
Anyone denying that this is "all Putin's fault" is labeled a "Putin apologist". The Empire apologists demand "evidence" that the US is has manufactured this crisis, only to reject that evidence because it wasn't in the New York Times.
No one acknowledges that it is the Oligarchy (just over 600 billionaires in the USA, other nation's Oligarchs are problems for those nations) that is pulling the puppet's strings in different directions making this happen.
Your ending is so perfect, after all the scary information. I am also more inclined to be present where I am. To be alive and know it brings happiness for no other reason.
As ever, a brilliant article. In 1968 the protestor faced batons and bullets(i got a scar), in 2022 the protestor faces biological and digital bugs(gives me a scare). So everyone the protestor met/meets can be injured. From the drain i am circling, i am calling for inaction. Ahimsa cannot be expressed in large gatherings, for the recent past(i concur) has shown the electronic media’s ability to reshape the public perception of outdoor protests, thereby minimizing the impact of actions that have attendant maximal risk.
Soon i will be “talking” with my grandfather about what happened to the planet he left me. Now i am talking with my grandchildren about a prorogued planetary power on a personal level. “Nietos, huelga general ahorita! Thanks.
Has anyone else picked up a smoking habit over the past year? Now I understand why soldiers in war movies always have cigarettes...
Who gives a shit what you think Nazi!
If the worst happens, surely the living will envy the dead...
The concept of little nuclear bombs is like that of being a little bit dead. Such are the tricks of the human mind, especially when its fevered-up with thoughts of war and domination. But this is why Putin and Russia's actions were absolutely well-calculated: backing down when the Western plan from some time back was clearly to divide and destroy Russia, nuke capability be damned, is not a winning strategy. Because that is how the West, led by the US, thinks: weakness is a chink in the armour, and an invitation they can no more resist than can the blood trail of a weakened animal be resisted by a voracious predator. So there is that consolation: Russians are extremely intelligent. Losing a large proportion of your people to stop the Nazi predator, and no thanks for it either, has taught them well. They had no choice in Ukraine, it was the only logical move. If the West must overturn the chessboard, it is on their heads.