Addressing very important people at a recent very important meeting of representatives of very important nations Mr Barack Obama said, among other important things, that national governments should unite in opposing militant extremism and Russian aggression.
This was curious because he did not explain what either of
these two things really are.
Militant extremism - does this include starting wars in one country
after another, choosing allies and enemies as casually as important people choose golf clubs between casual conversations
at the fifteenth hole ? Does it include managing the flight of drones from
somewhere in your own country whose course is
programmed in a little room hundreds of miles away to fall - killing whomever may be around – thousands of miles away?
It is surprising that
learned – important - ethical bodies
seem to define violence and extremism as what is done by little people, and have
been effectively silent about militant
extremism by important ones. In fact
there is simply no body on earth with the ethical knowledge and commitment, the
courage and the generosity to stand up clearly and speak loudly against important people in important governments making
unimportant people kill each other for a living. Armies need arms, the arms
industries need armies and all of them
need unimportant people to work in them
and even to give their lives showing how effective the latest deadly models
are. Mass killing is not now a matter for horrified
amazement , it is an everyday business
strategy.
War-for-business is a strategy , deployment of troops and drones is a tactic.
It works.
And is profitable.
Profit is the most
important test of the ethical goodness
of what important people do nowadays.
A golf competition under the shadow of the beautiful Mourne Mountains
in Ireland
? How much money will it generate for the economy?
An Italian cycle race
playing away from home ?
How much will it generate
for the local economy ?
FIFA ? FAI ? True lovers of football may think longingly
of the days when loyalty to their team involved loyalty to almost next-door neighbours and now
be uneasy because like the war business the soccer business has become globalised and at the matches the fans just
get more comfortable seats to make more fortunes for the Board. .
Religious people sometimes – not so often now as in the past
– point to their sacred writings, the
distilled, preserved remnants of their ancestors’
insights into the meaning of life , and
quote , “The love of money is the root of all evil”. If therefore our wars and our drones and our policy
of continuous war-for-profit are evil –although governments do not agree that they are – then
one would expect religious people to say No to them all. Or have the churches,
the humanitarian associations, the peace people, the universities and suchlike all been created in vain because
the original reason for their existence has been forgotten ? Are we evolving
voluntarily backwards to a nature red in
tooth and claw ?
Governments who are setting each other up for war incessantly will continue doing it. An obvious present target is Russia, with a struggle for power along the line separating Russia from those countries
that reason says should be their allies for the common good.
Then there is China . Indeed there is also whoever
else is a threat in world trade and commerce and a competitor – not enemy, just competitor – in
gathering and storing and dispensing wealth.
Calling for united international help against militant extremism
seems a good idea.
It’s a pity though that
the wrong people are asking for it.
