We are at war here on Earth. World War III has been going on under our noses. Or, perhaps World War 2 never even ended? I wonder, has anyone else ever considered these ideas? Looking at the narratives of modern detente, one can easily conclude we will never have peace. It’s time the people of Earth reassess where it is (exactly) we want this planet to become.
I was reading just now a CNBC story that blows the whistle on the whole critical mess that world politics is today. The title is brilliant, for anyone who can read between the lines of western propaganda. “Russia is building its military influence in Africa, challenging US and French dominance” is supposed to vilify Russia and punish Russians for daring to defy the world order. Unfortunately, the story ends up as another bit of the pot calling the kettle black nonsense.
Author Elliot Smith does a decent job of laying out what’s been going on in Africa, with Russia beginning to swap places with France and the United States as trusted partners. Only the Russians, somehow, always seem to be wearing black hats in these situations. I find it funny that an AK47 is somehow more ominous and mean than an M4 made by Colt.
CNBC’s bit on Africa dominance is less to do with economic and investment deals, and more to do with numbers of troops, strategic alliances, military bases, and so forth. This may be the first time I’ve read a media outlet (as opposed to RFE/RL or the State Department) discussing a whole continent as if it were a front in a real war. Or, as my original premise suggests – this is another front in the ongoing conflict.
As per usual, Russian security contractors, Russian guns, and Russian diplomatic pushes are painted as sinister and unique – while the United States and allies are portrayed like Muhammad Ali doing the rope-a-dope. We’re on our heels, the Ruskies will take over – that sort of thing. But at the end, I realized, Smith’s reporting is the closest thing to real journalism I’ve read in years. Despite the negative connotation aimed at Russia, there’s a balancing of the story in the telling of American and French strategies now and in the past. Could CNBC be headed back into news?
Well, maybe not. Nobody, and I mean nobody in the west touches on the United States’ military footprint in Africa. Russia would have to substantially up her game if she intends to win the war on the African front. And if we’ve really been at war since the end of WW2? Well, it looks like the death toll will end up being all of us. The sad thing for me is, my countrymen seem content to laugh and play their way through the catastrophe. No wonder the elites keep stealing more and more. They operate with impunity.
“The danger to world peace springs not from the action of those who seek to end neo-colonialism but from the inaction of those who allow it to continue. … If world war is not to occur it must be prevented by positive action. This positive action is within the power of the peoples of those areas of the world which now suffer under neo-colonialism but it is only within their power if they act at once, with resolution and in unity.” – Kwame Nkrumah, Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism
Incidentally, the AK 47 has killed more people than any other rifle in history. This is in part due to the numbers produced, the popularity worldwide, and the longevity of the variants. Interestingly though, since World War 2, the United States has killed more people than any other ten nations combined. In fact, tens of millions of people living in the various war zones have also been displaced by our wars. The US post-9/11 wars have forcibly displaced at least 38 million people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria. This number exceeds the total displaced by every war since 1900, except World War II. Russia, by comparison, only has the stain of Afghanistan and some local regional conflicts on her hands.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
