SAINTS PRESERVE US

KAOS!

Can you hear the discordant notes in the music of the geopolitical spheres? Is it just me? My latest issue of The Economist reports that more global citizens have lost their lives to murder than have died in military conflict. The difference might be semantic as there are degrees of murder as opposed to the blanket euphemism of sustained collateral damage in combat zones. Apparently though, the planet (and war itself) is safer than ever before. Yet on the morning Friday, April 13^th while perusing The Globe and Mail and trying to make heads and tails of things, my sense was of a tossed coin flipping in the air, that the existing statistics on killing might be reversed.

“Perfect world” war is waged in enemy territory. Unlike sports, real warriors don’t play for home field advantage. Even better is a war fought by proxy in a distant elsewhere wherein the main adversaries employ third party patsies to do their dirty work while still making nice at the United Nations and ducking any potential blow-back on the home front. Since war is a human construct, it is rarely a tidy exercise. SNAFU and FUBAR occur in a hurry and well, gee, things tend to escalate. Syria is a prime example.

Russia is an ally of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s little tin god. He is either a monster who deploys chemical weapons against his own people or a legitimate ruler struggling to maintain his government whilst in the throes of civil war. The United States, intently interested in promoting democracy, backs the rebels or terrorists, depending upon your point of view. Just for fun, let’s throw homeless Kurds and neighbouring Turks, Iraqis, Israelis, Lebanese and various sectarian factions into the cesspool. And let’s add more organic waste to our tailings pond of sewage because Allah knows the ultimate agendas of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The presidents of the United States and Russia share some history. Just how much, nobody knows. They share a common though loggerhead goal: make their countries great again. One is a buffoon, a dotard, and the other clever and ruthless. Tweeterdumbest warned Russia that an attack on Syria “could be very soon or not so soon at all!” Missiles were launched during the night. Clever ploy or Doctor Strangelove? Now it’s Russia’s turn to make a move in this lethal game of chess with an odious vulgarian who plays only checkers.

Russia, like China, senses America’s End of Empire. There’s a vacuum to be filled, plenty of space available to spin our globe like a top. These countries are emboldened, they will not back down. America has shriveled into a deeply divided and inward-looking country. Cracks in that noble collective have been eroded into chasms, chipped away in part by the machinations of its superpower rivals who utilize the influence of soft power and weaponized information.

A particularly Canadian gag: At the height of the Cold War every structure in Canada west of Manitoba had a southward-pointing arrow painted on its roof. The red directionals were intended to aid Soviet bombers: “The US border is a little further south, Ivan! Keep going!” My childhood, complete with a looming fear of nuclear apocalypse and posted civil defense instructions on ducking a blast has come around again. It's hard to feel nostalgic. There’s a gallon of red paint in the workroom here at the Crooked 9.