From almost two years ago:
Many of us as children had to listen to the mournful, terrifying howling of civil air raid sirens being tested, and the whine of the TVs displaying the Emergency Broadcast System, and have gone to bed with the knowledge that it was possible to be burned alive while asleep. After the fall of the USSR, we thought it was a time when we had made it through, and had breathed a great sigh of relief that our own children need not fear what we feared.Yesterday:
A new age was upon us. If terrorism was the worst threat facing us, great! A fringe bunch of cultish lunatics was cerainly preferrable to thousands of nuclear missiles re-entering the atmosphere. We could handle it.
What a surprise to find suddenly that the UN is failing, and the dogs of war once again howling at our door. And when I say failing, I don't mean it in the same way as the usual anti-UN mantra mindlessly chanted by the right-wing. I mean that it is failing because the last remaining superpower has decided that it is irrelevant, and has given notice of such to the world. And it appears that the world is listening....
The Iraq invasion was the NeoCon message to the rest of the world that they intended to bury the UN, and shrug off the limits that the global community had on the last great superpower. They announced that they would accept nothing that limited American global military supremecy until the end of time, if possible. In doing so, they have instead weakened their nation, lost their role as international leader, and strengthened an unstable and dangerous set of international alliances, many now armed with or soon to develop nuclear weapons.
Welcome to the bad old days, guys.
The scientists who mind the Doomsday Clock on Wednesday moved it two minutes closer to midnight -- symbolizing the annihilation of civilization -- adding the perils of global warming for the first time to acute nuclear threats.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons, advanced the clock to five minutes until midnight. It was the first adjustment of the clock since 2002.
"We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age," the group said in a statement.
7 comments:
If you’re suggesting that the world is in (even greater) danger of what we might do if some suicidal nutcase or group set off a nuke in North America, I agree. I’m not sure what the UN has to do with it, other than by failing to effectively utilize it, we’ve hasted our day of reckoning.
I’m not sure what the UN has to do with it, other than by failing to effectively utilize it, we’ve hasted our day of reckoning.
Despite it's failings, the UN has done the task it was designed for - provide a diplomatic forum for the nations of the world intended to avoid another global war.
For the last six years, the UN has been made irrelevant, and nations are looking for other means of security. And nukes are it.
More nations with more nukes means greater proliferation of the technology, a greater likelihood of use of the weapons, and a much greater chance that they'll eventually be used in a sneaky fashion.
Passport had a piece on this the other day here.
Hmmmm, I'm with you with everything except the "[insert Middle-East-country-that's-not-Isreal] wants nukes because the UN is weakened," argument.
The neocons (really, all American righties) have self-fulfilled their prophecies about UN impotence and corruption (I'm shocked).
Since everyone has suffered as a result, perhaps we can hope that the UN, State and the diplomats are on the ascendancy.
I agree that the modern Republican takeover of the American government has been one of the darkest moments in world history but it appears that particular worm has turned. The only thing that could give them power again is a another dramatic attack on the US.
Hmmmm, I'm with you with everything except the "[insert Middle-East-country-that's-not-Isreal] wants nukes because the UN is weakened," argument.
Well, no. International relations have deteriorated quite a bit, and smaller nations are looking for nukes because it's now the wild west out there. The waning of the UN is all part of that, but not specifically the cause alone.
I agree that the modern Republican takeover of the American government has been one of the darkest moments in world history but it appears that particular worm has turned.
While I would hope so, I think the world has gone down a dark, one-way street. A new pattern of alliances has formed, and the US no longer has the leadership role it used to. I don't think a change of government will fix that.
"I don't think a change of government will fix that."
You probably have a better sense of it than I could. But let's just agree that the range of possibilities in cohesion within some UN-based global community (with or without US leadership) is from incremental improvement to catastrophic failure. Democrats, in the Congress and, before long, in the White House, at least believe in that community and in the UN and other instruments of global cooperation.
I know it is off topic, but how is your son doing? I think of him and his friends everytime I go through that intersection.
GAB
Aside from his legs aching once in a while where they were hit, and some lingering headaches, concentration issues, and visual oddities, he's doing okay. The above aftereffects are improving a lot, although we'll have to see if his school work has been effected (I'm hoping against hope that the brain trauma improves his marks -- hey, I can dream, can I?). The other injured boy is attending school part-time on crutches, so he has improving a bunch as well.
Kids. They heal quick.
Thanks for asking, I appreciate your concern.
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