I went to bed reminded of living as a child of the bomb, not expecting to reach adulthood because of the permanent threat of nuclear war and obliteration.\u00a0 No point working for the school exams or planning a future, because there would not be one.\u00a0 And now there are news stories looking breathlessly at nuclear escalation as an exciting prospect.<\/p>\n
This is why we should have got rid of nuclear weapons by now.\u00a0 We are still living in fear of total destruction which is supposedly there to protect us.<\/p>\n
So the post WW2 constitutional attitude of Germany being a peaceful nation in Europe is over.\u00a0 It feels like we’ve gone back 90 or more years in European peaceful negotiation and concepts.\u00a0 Once again a militarised Germany in the centre of Europe, throwing its weight about.\u00a0 And providing the arms for a war in another country: great way to get back into the game, Germany, by supporting a proxy war.\u00a0 Start out at a low level, why don’t you?<\/p>\n
And Germany has committed to providing 2% to NATO, so NATO’s budget goes up<\/em> as a result of Russia’s actions.\u00a0 Well done NATO for coming out the winner in this.\u00a0 The most powerful state in the world with a national flag, national anthem, guaranteed budget paid by taxpayers elsewhere and with no democratically elected leaders.\u00a0 Amazing.<\/p>\n Lots of countries are promising to send weapons of various sorts.\u00a0 Russia is on the outskirts of Kiev.\u00a0\u00a0 By the time they have been found, ready to be boxed up, it will all be over.\u00a0 But the contracts and orders with the arms manufacturers will still go ahead.\u00a0 It is just throwing money at the arms industry that will have no effect.\u00a0 What are they going to do with them when they are ready for shipment in a couple of months – send them to the Russians occupying Ukraine?\u00a0 “Oh, these are items in the stores!”.\u00a0 They have to be gathered up, boxed up, transport arranged, receipt arranged, training booked, maintenance arranged, documentation provided … it won’t happen.<\/p>\n And the censorship has begun.\u00a0 During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan I found it very interesting watching the mainstream news and listening to the BBC World Service, Voice of America and Radio Moscow and comparing the different versions of events.\u00a0 By tracking what each was saying about the front moving back and forth in my school atlas, and keeping track of the losses and gains reported on each side, I was able to work out which was utter bobbins and which seemed reasonably accurate, albeit with some spin.\u00a0 The Voice of America was utter bonkers fiction; the others were generally aligned.\u00a0 Fake news and lies in the media are not a new thing.\u00a0 Censorship in the West is.<\/p>\n What an unpleasant weekend.\u00a0 How quickly politicians will re-instate a Cold War and military escalation when given the opportunity, rather than trying to sort their problems out.<\/p>\n Welcome to living with fear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I went to bed reminded of living as a child of the bomb, not expecting to reach adulthood because of the permanent threat of nuclear war and obliteration.\u00a0 No point working for the school exams or planning a future, because … Continue reading \n