alt-think.com

#Fire and Fury –
World Stability and Security have deteriorated fast over the last years. Does the World need a massive global armed conflict to re-orientate??

Trump and Kim are openly playing with fire. The President of the US is chatting with the Chinese President over a piece of „great“ chocolate cake, while the US Navy is simultaneously bombing Syrian air bases. We are watching in awe and silent admiration the explosive power of the „Mother of All Bombs“ being dropped on Afghanistan after 15 years of armed conflict as if it would be the latest release of a computer war game. Japan and Germany, who had learned their lessons from the monstrous atrocities of WW2 are asked to massively increase defense spending and armament. Even a nuclear armament of these countries is no longer taboo in the discussion. Fascist and Chauvinist elements are gaining ground fast, the growing desire for strong and full-mouthed leaders is frightening. Democratic checks and balances are replaced with dictators, authoritarian systems, or one-person centric movements.

The Nation State proclaimed with a noisy „Us First“ is celebrating an amazing comeback. There is a populist outcry by the forgotten men and women and the abandoned and exploited middle class. And all this, while the Mother of all Bubbles, the illusion of free money for all, nurtured by the Fed, the ECB and the BOJ, is granting the treasuries the comfort to continue past excesses and inefficiencies.

Unfortunately, it looks like the World needs a huge catharsis to bring us back some urgently needed (re-)orientation. A clarification of what we want to have and what not, how we want to live and how not, how we want to treat our own people and our neighbors and how not. What the basic economic agreements are between rich and poor, between old an young, between capital and labor, and between nations and neighbors. Currently, it does not look like if we would be able to obtain this clarity through the mental and political evolution of our societies, but only through a major global catastrophe, that goes beyond borders, societies, religions. There is a multitude of factors leading to global instability, to a new geo-political reality, and each one of them has the potential to unleash a global chain reaction:

• The US, once perceived as the leader of the free world, is headed by a nationalist narcissist. Democratic principles are openly undermined and ridiculed.
• North Korea is playing openly with fire, but unfortunately on top of a nuclear warhead.
• The Middle East is in more chaos than ever. Syria is already a volatile, global battleground.
• Two powerful groups are forming, heavily armed, and ready to test their arsenals in the Middle East and beyond: Iran/Iraq/Turkey/Qatar/Afghanistan – Saudi Arabia/Egypt/UAE/(Israel).
• Old alliances break up without new ones evolving fast enough.
• Religious and political extremists are progressing worldwide.
• A migration iceberg is on the move.
• Democracy is losing out against Dictators and authoritarian systems, media are under attack.
• Fascist, Nationalist and Chauvinist Elements are growing, three generations after WW2 there is no collective memory on risks and dangers.
• Cyber War and Cyber Crime are a direct threat to democracy and the rule of law, and can only be tackled internationally.
• The end (if ever taking place) of cheap money will lead to global recession, in parallel to anti-globalization, protectionist trends.
• More and more traditional workplaces will be suppressed by robots, millions of people will not be able to contribute in the next generation labor market.
• The spiritual health of people is dying under a materialistic, ego-centric avalanche of individual self-optimization.

Unless the UNSC, i.e. the US, EU, Russia and China engage in a shared(!) control of a World in a lunatic frenzy, we are heading fast towards an unpredictable chaos, driven by selfish and authoritarian Nation States. And this will indeed cause fire and fury. Btw, a very similar situation to the pre-WW2 period. There is still hope that responsible leaders and politicians worldwide are waking up to the new geo-political reality, and give new vision and orientation to the World, but time is running out. Or humankind will have to go through the catharsis of a huge catastrophe. The good news is: artificial intelligence is advancing fast.