A Healthy Dose of Skepticism as We Watch the World Burn
Armed with an elementary understanding and a misplaced sense of confidence, I decided to ask the important questions the US government needs our help to answer.
Blurred Lines
What happens when a nation decides to multitask between developing and ducking bullets? Can a society really thrive under the infernal gaze of an ever-hovering imperial ruling class, or does such a condition lead to economic chaos in a society that's more fragmented than a jigsaw puzzle in a blender? Are the consequences of constant military engagement just a niche interest for bourgeois cocktail parties, or should we all pause our Netflix binge to pay attention? Joining the illustrious ranks of armchair generals and backseat diplomats, I had an epiphany: I have no clue what I'm talking about. At least I'm in good company as it seems no one else does either.
Statesmanship
The U.S. State Department's stance seems as enigmatic as a Kafka novel. With no discernible preference for peace, the definition of diplomacy becomes a blur of tanks and treaties, soldiers and senators, bullets and ballots. Is nation-building merely the aftermath of war, a sort of geopolitical clean-up operation? Or do the economic incentives distract from the “peace process”? Why is the U.S. State Department so intent on the military oil money affairs between two small countries that have been at war for 60 years, anyway? The boys in the Pentagon sure don’t seem to lose much sleep over differentiating between a hospital and a military base.
Legitimate Courts of Law
Who decides which nations have actually follow the terms of signed agreements and who can commit war crimes with impunity? Isn’t the very concept of a war crime in-and-of itself a contradiction in terms? Stalin, ever the pragmatist, insisted upon the infamous Nuremberg Trials that followed the Second World War, characteristically preferring the semblance of law and order to the chaos of American spray-and-pray firing squads. Why was the firebombing of Dresden, which turned the city into a veritable inferno, not on the docket? What about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Was the use of atomic bombs more humane than the allegations against Nazi generals, sacrificed to the establishment of the Fourth Reich? The Allies, especially the Americans, were never going to be held to account for their own war crimes, and a predetermined show trial does not an international legal system make.
Shooting vs. Shopping
With great power comes great ambiguity, and nothing shows this better than the advent of expensive new mechanisms of indiscriminate targeted slaughter. Are drones better suited for delivering bombs or Amazon packages? Regardless of the circumstances that surround the invention of the internet, could there be a better way to wield its capabilities than destruction? The invisible battlefields of cyber warfare present a silent technological conundrum. Cyberattacks, once the domain of rogue hackers, are now sophisticated tools used by nations to undermine each other's security and stability, often impacting civilian infrastructure. The same technology that powers your late night scrolls through TikTok and impulsive shopping binges on Amazon have become weapons of disruption, espionage, and terrorism.
The Humanities
Diminishing the pestilent human horde is a key concern for any conscientious citizen looking to protect the interests of the global elite. And the worlds most powerful families are more than aware that any development of the human population that exists beyond their control is a threat to the current exploitative system. Could nuclear war be an underestimated solution to the “overpopulation problem?” Clearly no concern is offered to the selfishly reproductive cannon-fodder class which brings the suffering of war upon their own insignificant serf families by virtue of their own existence. Thankfully, progressive ideologies tell us that all families are beautiful, even when the composition is altered to the loss of a parent sacrificed to satiate the blood-thirst of the governmental gods.
In the end, understanding the complexities of global affairs may not be so much about finding definitive answers, but discovering which questions ought to be asked, even if the mere asking of some of them has been criminalized. Effective humanitarian solutions must be navigated with a sense of humility, curiosity, and a detached commitment to the truth. In the grand tradition of armchair experts, confident proclamations and bold assertions more often than not simply attempt to mask a sea of uncertainties. That the principles of international law are as flexible as a gymnast in the Olympics. The lines are not just blurred, but intentionally non-existent.
-The Shultz Report by M. Shultz