STRANGLE THE SATAN OF WORLD WAR III

A Nuclear World War will destroy our planet, writes

RAJENDRA ANEJA

Most of us in the middle and lower-incomed groups sleep innocently in the nights, ensconced by our families, blankets or air-conditioners. However, we may not sleep securely for long. As we slumber, the Satan of a possible nuclear World War is gradually creeping in, from the battlefields of Ukraine, Lebanon, Gaza, etc. This Satan or World War III, threatens to destroy, not merely our peaceful inertias, but also our planet.

The Russia-Ukraine war has been causing immense loss of human lives. However, Western countries continue to pour arms, tanks and fighter aircraft into Ukraine to fortify it. Russia’s allies, like China and North Korea, also continue to support it. Both sides have taken hard stances. No country in the world, has taken the lead, to bring them to a negotiating table. Meanwhile, the number of widows and orphans, in both countries, continues to grow. We are becoming an inhuman and insensitive world.

Ukraine has been pressurising the USA and its Western allies for long-range missiles, to attack Russia’s interiors. Hitherto, the USA had supplied weapons to Ukraine, to counter the invasion and not for attacks in Russian territories. Permitting the use of Western missiles to attack inside Russia, will aggravate the war. Russia will clearly see this as a Western allies’ proxy attack, through Ukraine.

Ukraine should Negotiate.

Former US President Trump has wisely said on 25 Sept, in North Carolina, that Ukraine should reach a settlement with Russia. He said, “Ukraine is gone. It’s not Ukraine anymore. You can never replace those cities and towns, and you can never replace the dead people, so many dead people. Any deal, even the worst deal, would have been better than what we have right now.”

It is in everybody’s self-interest, to rein Ukraine and Russia and help them to negotiate. Fanning their misunderstandings and battles, will be self-defeating for everyone, in the long-run.

The Ukraine-Russia war has become absolutely attritive. There is ample misery and hardship. Ukraine cannot win this war on its own. It is relying on the Western countries for arms and ammunition.  Ukraine is getting impoverished and losing its youngsters. It should negotiate with Russia and end this bitter, protracted war.

 Meanwhile the war between Israel and Palestine-Hamas-Iran continues and threatens to engulf surrounding countries. It festers indefinitely. Millions of ordinary people are being displaced and live in the daily fear of being bombarded and killed. How can we accept such belittling of human life?

The triggering of blasts through remote controls, in Lebanon, has serious implications for mankind in general and the travel industry in particular. Explosions in the future, could be triggered through mobile phones, laptops or cameras. So, will the airlines, railways and buses, or taxis, permit the carrying of these appliances? The implications of these detonations through remote-controls, are devastating for us. It means, nobody is safe, anywhere in the world, in the future. Any mobile phone, could be a bomb.

The latest round of blasts and deaths in Lebanon, triggered through pagers and walkies-talkies, will aggravate the situation in the Middle East. Hezbollah is bound to react to these attacks. It is a tit-for-tat situation, with each side reacting with more destruction and deaths. The innocents suffer, simply by being there. Iran too, has got embroiled. How does this end?  

To avoid a global war, we need first, to ensure cease-fires in the war zones in Ukraine and the Middle East. Second, we need to re-establish trust between the leaders of warring nations. Third, they have to meet and negotiate. Other nations can help. But, dialogue and trust between the concerned leaders is crucial. Fourth, we should not belittle any leader or country, however small or weak. Hitler, almost dismembered the entire world between 1940 and 1945, for his perceived humiliations of Germany, during World War I. Fifth, to ensure peace, each country may have to sacrifice some territory or ego. There is no humiliation in accepting this. It is wisdom and maturity.

A country like the USA or Russia or China should have taken the lead to resolve the horrible imbroglio between Israel and Hamas-Hezbollah. However, America is preoccupied with the Presidential elections, slated in a few weeks. Russia is embroiled in a protracted battle with Ukraine.

Countries like China, India, UAE and Egypt should take the initiative to ensure a case-fire between Israel and its neighbours. We cannot be by-standers, watching a war movie. If the world does not act now to ensure peace in the Middle East, we could hurtle towards a major escalation and a world war, triggered by a thoughtless mistake.  

The United Nations, which was created after World War II, to prevent such conflagrations, is proving ineffective.

Guns are also blazing in various civil wars, in Sudan, Burkina Faso, etc. India and Pakistan always stare at each other. North Korea is always creating concerns. Iran’s nuclear programme causes sleepless nights. To exacerbate matters, high inflation across the globe, is keeping people hungry and impoverished. Unemployment is augmenting in African and Asian countries.

However, guns boom in many countries. War is an absolute waste of human lives. It is an attrition of economic resources. Moneys are spent on bullets and guns, instead of schools and hospitals. All war, is a failure of human intelligence and wisdom. Leaders are elected to prevent wars, not to engage in them or fan them.

The fear is that some nation may deploy a nuclear weapon sloppily or in anger and engulf all nations in the third World War. A World War with nuclear weapons would be catastrophic. It could end the human race. There would be no survivors. The world could become a flaming funeral pyre. We should not be cavalier about the dangers of a nuclear war.

The Satan of a nuclear World War III, has to be strangled immediately, by silencing guns in the battlefields.

 Aneja was the Managing Director of Unilever Tanzania.  He is the author of “Business Express: An Odyssey of business ideas and sensitivities,” and writes from  Mumbai, India