Australia is Burning and We Contemplate War with Iran?

Australia is suffering the seemingly endless wrath of severe fires and their accompanying firestorms. Many residents of this continent are being rescued by ships undertaking a massive relocation effort. There is little doubt that this set of circumstances are a direct consequence of human-caused climate change. This represents a clear and undeniable object lesson for the entire species on this beleaguered planet. This is a crisis of major proportions that needs to be addressed on a global scale.

Given the momentous significance of this unprecedented event, the supposed leader of the free world has essentially declared war on Iran, its culture and its people. He has gone so far as to threaten the aerial bombardment of the country of Iran even boasting that some of the 52 sites targeted by the military include places of deep cultural significance to the peoples of Iran – a clearly delineated war crime as outlined by international treaty.

This, in my mind, points to the absolute collective insanity of human societies in the modern world. For, we would rather remain mired in the destructive ways of the past and cling on to the worn and bankrupt ideologies bound to cultural and national identities than come together to face and resolve the most pressing issues facing all of the humankind.

War is, after all, a reckless and dangerous paradigm that speaks of the narrowest of thinking and depends upon extreme violence to resolve issues that are often contrived and manufactured by the powerful in order to maintain the status quo. Modern warfare leaves nothing but monumental carnage and destruction in its path. War effectively undermines the capacity of peoples from divergent cultures to come together to use human ingenuity, resourcefulness, creativity and intelligence to solve the ills that beset us.

If this is the path that is chosen, given the precarious nature of humanity’s viability on this wondrous planet, then future generations of humans will ultimately pay a horrific cost for this absolute lunacy.