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Rolla Peace News March 18, 2024 |
Dear Friends:Editor's notes:In this newsletter is: 1. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) A Tale of Four Wars War 1: Afghanistan In 2001 The United States, with the blessings of the United Nations and perhaps 50 countries, invaded Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest countries, presumably because of one person, Osama bin Laden. After killing hundreds of thousands over the course of 20 years, and spending trillions of dollars, the US and friends threw in the towel and slunk home with their tails between their legs. War 2: Ukraine It's crunch time for the collective West. In spite of gifting many billions of dollars and heavy weapons to The Ukraine, there is little doubt that Russia is winning and, if things continue to go as they have, will continue to win. Sanctions seem to have hurt Europe, which is not united in its desire to prosecute this war, far more than they hurt Russia. The West seems to have three choices: Choice 1. Go to the bargaining table and end the war, likely coming away with far less than they would have if they hadn't scuttled negotiations two years ago. Choice 2. Continue the war hoping for the unlikely miracle. Choice 3. Escalate, sending foreign soldiers to the Ukraine with heavier, more deadly weapons, increasing the chance of nuclear World War III. I would opt for Choice 1; but nobody listens to me. Wouldn't we all be so much better off if we hadn't supported the Ukrainian coup in 2014, when the current Russophobic government came to power? War 3: Palestine The purpose of this war appears to be the total elimination of Palestinians in Gaza. Over ten thousand children have been killed in the Israeli onslaught. The latest atrocities include the defunding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency by the United States and friends and the massacre of starving people waiting in line for food by the Israeli military. Israel's War on Gaza will go down in history, along with the Nazi destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Rape of Fallujah by the United States and friends. This is not a war. This is a massacre. There is no honor in massacring defenseless people. There is no honor in supplying weapons to those who carry out a massacre of defenseless people. For most of the world, Israel is and will continue to be a pariah state and the United States will be known as the superpower that enabled Israeli crimes. War 4: Nature Humans continue to foul the air with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in ever increasing amounts. As a result, the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations from meteorological winter 2022-23 to meteorological winter 2023-24 was greater than the increase between any other two consecutive winters on record. February 2024 was the most anomalously warm month on record, 1.63°C above the 1850-1900 average. The world saw more extreme weather disasters in 2023 than in any other year since record-keeping began. These and more climate highlights and disasters listed here. One has to wonder why we continue to fight wars we can't win. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesdays (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Rollaites for Peace: near the top of rightmost column).Wage peace, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |