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Depression, Doomsday and Peace

Some thoughts on the subject by Larry Ross, July 7, 2007

Scientifically I contemplate the facts, such as:

1. The 9 arsenals of nuclear weapons with enough fire power to eliminate humanity many times over. Since 1945 famous people and the most informed experts have warned humanity about the nuclear arms race and the many ways it could mean sudden extinction for the human race. That's 62 years of warnings, but nuclear weapons have proliferated and criminal politicians want to use them.
   
2. That criminal minds, sociopaths and psychopaths, now control the world's greatest arsenals in the USA, UK and Israel.
   
3. That they are legalising and normalising the pre-emptive use of these weapons on nuclear and non-nuclear states.
   
4. That there are powerful factions looking for ways to use these weapons and inventing justifications to do so.
   
5. That publics are like cows or sheep in a field, quietly chewing their cud or eating the grass without a care in the world. By and large they have accepted the normalisation process and actual usage without much protest and almost without notice, although it has been brought to public attention by a few alarmed people and groups.
   
6. Basically people will follow their leader like sheep, wherever he may lead – even though it is pointed out to them that the direction is towards major, probably nuclear war. A little propaganda and a few obvious lies are all that is required, plus the co-operation of the media in carrying the message to the public.
   
7. It is widely known, even accepted as a fact of life, that we live on the edge of the nuclear abyss. Famous men and experts have warned that humanity will commit self-extinction if it continues on this path. Any use of nuclear weapons is likely to lead to more use and the global situation is likely to fly out of control in a very short time.
   That is because thousands of nuclear weapons and missiles are ready to launch on warning within minutes. It can happen by accident, miscalculation or act of madness as President Kennedy and many others have warned. Yet, it makes no difference.
   The US and Russia , and perhaps other countries keep their missiles ready and on hair trigger alert. They are dicing with global death, gambling with extinction, thinking of new ways to use their nuclear arsenals to achieve their goals.
   
8. People have adapted to this situation of instant death at any moment and are happily and with complete lack of concern, carrying on with their business as usual.
   
9. Everyone has some leisure time and could devote some of it to solving this problem. But in their leisure time, when they could devote some attention to this extremely dangerous situation they engage in a myriad of other activities, from sports, to TV and to many other forms of recreation.
   
10. Only a very, very few devote a little time to this subject, but very little resources. Nor do they offer any help or support to those who are engaged in warning others, monitoring the situation or working to reduce or eliminate this problem.
    
11. Most people seem to regard those working for peace as some kind of freaks or subversives – potentially helping the enemy of the day. The enemy is whoever, or whatever their leaders nominate as the enemy of the day. It used to be the communists. Now it is the terrorists, al-Qaeda, or Muslims. Anyone will do.
    
12. Immediately an enemy is named, that is enough to deter most people from working for peace. And if there is some kind of armed peace, they are not concerned.
    
13. If they are told there is an enemy, then they believe that working for peace might help the enemy and weaken our defence against the nominated enemy.
    
14. Those who continue working for peace are regarded with suspicion by the rest. That's the way it was during the long cold war between the US-led ‘Western World' and the ‘Communist world” led by the USSR and China.
    
15. However the end of the cold war meant that it was necessary to invent some new enemy. So the US neo-conservatives invented the terrorist threat. Any individual or group threatening the status quo, no matter how bad it may be, is automatically considered part of the ‘global terrorist threat'.
    
16. The ‘global war on terror' with its new ‘catch-all' doctrines and nuclear threats, has now become a huge industry growing larger by the day.
    
17. It would take a book to detail all the threats to human existence - from global warming to a series of wars leading toward a new kind of holy war against the Muslim world.
    
18. The global arms race is accelerating with the US making new nuclear weapons and starting an arms race in space. Space is regarded as the new battlefield and dominating space militarily is one of the US objectives.
    
19. There are a number of ecological threats as we expand our populations, expand our economies and gobble up the world's resources, as we initiate wars to possess these resources. Oil, water, land, is all up for grabs as we quietly abandon international law and UN ideals, and we resort to force.
    
20. And what do the people think? Most don't think, they just go with the flow and follow their leaders.
    
21. Most depressing of all is that people just don't want to know. They want to live in their bubble of ignorance and prefer not to listen to anyone who might disturb their world of denial. If the worst does not happen, or has not happened yet, they consider they were right and the doomsayers wrong. If the worst does happen and we are all plunged into global darkness, death and despair as our families die slowly of burns and radiation; it's too late to care and too late for recriminations.
    
22. So this is why I feel depressed by the colossal threats, and rejected or ignored by those I try and warn. There is very little response to my concerns. So I question whether there is any point in continuing the frustration and rejection of working against war and the looming nuclear abyss. Maybe I should cultivate the art of denial and pretence like everyone else, and then busy myself at something in business that rewards accomplishments. Continuing a life in near poverty and repeated frustration and rejection seems pointless.
    
23. So what can I do and what can we do?
    
24. Can we be constructive and do something about these threats? Will erecting more peace bells and dedicating more peace parks and museums help? What about creating more bureaucracies and holding more conferences? Is there better more effective ways? What about Warrant of Fitness tests for politicians wanting to lead countries and control nuclear arsenals? Some people laughed at the idea of locally-declared nuclear free zones. What nonsense they thought. I think these are the same kind of people who would laugh at the idea that mentally unfit people should be weeded out by tests and laws so that they couldn't be elected to govern.
    
25. In 1980 the problems were similar. I wrestled with the problem and then created the NZ nuclear free zone campaign as a step a sovereign state and people could take without asking permission or relying on the participation of others. It worked. In 1984 New Zealand became nuclear free because the people responded to our multi- facetted campaign. The people and the Labour opposition already had an anti-nuclear record. They generally believed in the cause and saw that there were votes in it. I got unanimous approval from the 1981 Annual Peace Conference at Living Springs Canterbury for my ‘Five Point Peace Plan” and the campaign was on in 1982.
    
26. 2 years later in 1984, our efforts and the efforts of thousands of New Zealanders had created a situation of 64% of the NZ population living in 94 locally-declared nuclear free zones. That emboldened David Lange, leader of the Labour Party to promise “Elect us to govern and we will make all of New Zealand nuclear free”. When he was elected in 1984 that is what he did. It became a New Zealand law in 1987.
    
27. Is there another magic bullet today in 2007? Can I and we, do it again, but on a global scale? The problem today is so much larger, and propelled by so many powerful wealthy vested interests. It's arms racing plus the momentum of the meaningless but effective, ‘endless wars on terror' and a huge new industry powered by deeply entrenched vested interests of unlimited wealth.
    
28. Rationally, I would have to reason that it is an impossible problem that is so big people that don't even want to hear about it, much less do anything about it. I can think of better ways to reach more people, but it usually costs money to reach people with a message. Reaching them repeatedly as advertisers do to sell their products can cost millions of dollars. War makers have the funds to do this on a very big scale. Those who sell a peace message and expose the war makers as liars and worse, have little or no funds. The billions of dollars spent on the machinery of extinction is promoted by a huge promotional team of war propagandists, psychological warfare experts and PR men with unlimited resources. Those directing the extinction machine have immense power backed by their own people in key positions and by US military might. If you consider the real situation, the odds are that Bush's extinction machine will prevail over any rational considerations, or any actions by the few people and groups trying to expose and oppose them. A lot of people do nothing and live in hope that the 2008 election will get rid of Bush. That I think is improbable and a very long shot. Given Bush's record and the neocon crimes and objectives, they can bring on a big war on Iran anytime using any number of tricks and lies to do it, as they already have done successfully with the war on Iraq . That would provide all the excuses Bush needs to declare marshal law, postpone the 2008 elections because of the new war crisis, and impose new fascist-style dictatorial legislation to smother dissent and imprison those who do not conform to Bush's new rules. If he stages some kind of 'False Flag' and blames Iran , he'll have Americans in the cup of his hand and his popularity will zoom up as it did after 9/11. Americans are conditioned to accept new enemies and then react like Pavlov's dogs. Unless Bush and his neocons are stopped and exposed by other powerful groups in the US, I think they will use this kind of trickery to get the American people cheering for them again, and prepared for a new war - that's any kind of war using whatever weapons Bush chooses to use. The potential consequences will mean absolutely zero to most Americans. Sorry if I have offended some people, but after 60 years of studying people's behaviour, extinction trends and the nuclear threats and problems, that is the way the situation looks to me at this time of writing. I could add additional details at a future time which makes the situation look even worse.
    
29. If we look at the panorama of human history we see war after war – some 5,000 of them. Always, leaders were able to get their people to go to war to kill and be killed. Education did not seem to matter much. Leaders were always able to control the flow of information and enflame their populations. Today is little different. Even if the polls show 70% against Bush's war, it does not stop him from waging this war with the people's money. It does not stop his soldiers from laying down their lives for George Bush's delusions. And he has many, powerful allies, eager and willing to implement his wars based on lies. They like to believe his lies as the Germans believed Hitler's. Resistance to war is only a little better than nil.
    
30. Today the blocks are much larger and more intractable and the public apathy and denial more entrenched.
    
31. So I contemplate the race toward extinction and wonder “what can I do?”
    

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