Is the Coronavirus Interrupting Humanity’s Ability to Kill Itself?
by John Lawrence, April 16, 2020
Instead of spending a trillion dollars annually for the instruments of and preparations for war, perhaps we should have spent it on ventilators and PPE. If we're all in this together, does this mean all of humanity or only all of us Americans? Will getting back to normal mean getting back to war? Trump and Pompeo are a continuation of the neocon mentality of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Perle. These folks are never satisfied unless they have an enemy or a perceived enemy to deal with. If there's not one conveniently around, they'll go out of their way to create one. Then of course we'll need more military aircraft, more aircraft carriers, more smart missiles and more of the other implements of war. What, are we taking a break from war now that the coronavirus is occupying our attention?
Well, the coronavirus has had some good effects. There is less global warming. There hasn't been a recent school shooting. Air pollution is dropping rapidly in cities around the globe. Less fossil fuels are being taken out of the ground and consumed. People have been getting along quite nicely without crowding into sports and concert venues. Money isn't being wasted as flagrantly as it was before. Of course, that's bad for the economy in which money wasting contributes to the 70% consumer economy.
There is a renewed respect for the true heroes, not the armed forces, but the health care workers on the front lines. There is a realization that what is important is not American hegemony but the health and welfare of all the people in the world. As long as some are susceptible to the conditions creating ill health, a virus spawned anywhere, even in the poorest ghetto in Africa, can affect the whole world. The economic systems of the whole world can grind to a halt whether they be capitalistic, communistic or some variation or combination thereof.
Is there a renewed respect for cooperation instead of competition? The coronavirus is humbling. It doesn't respect power. Anyone from the richest and most powerful person in the world to the poorest and least powerful can be taken down by this virus. It has outsmarted and outwitted the ablest and the proudest among us. It has made us aware that we are all human and all susceptible no matter in which nation we live, no matter where we live anywhere in the world. It has made us aware of what is essential and what we can do without.
The pandemic is a dress rehearsal for what needs to be done to combat global warming, another pandemic that affects every human being in the whole world for generations to come. Unlike the coronavirus, global warming will not kill us in as rapid and dramatic a way, but it will kill us just as surely over a longer period of time. Instead of getting back to normal in terms of fossil fuel consumption and creating enemies as a justification for armaments buildups, let's get back to a new normal where priorities are realigned with the health and betterment of all people starting with the least among us. We need to make amends with out mother as well, Mother Earth that is.
Instead of creating and exacerbating relationships with our enemies, let us heal them instead. We were getting along just fine with Iran as long as the nuclear deal was in effect. Everyone was behaving. First, Trump opts out of that, and then goes out of his way to exacerbate tensions. Even with a pandemic affecting Iran to a great degree, the Trump administration has no pity on the average Iranian citizen. His and Pompeo's only concern is to totally wreck their economy with sanctions. Perhaps during a pandemic sanctions there should be a moratorium on sanctions. They are only making relations between the US and other countries, even friendly countries, worse.
The origin of the nasty relationship between the US and Iran was in the 1953 coup orchestrated by the CIA which overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and installed the Shah in his place. It was the first covert action by the United States to overthrow a democratically-elected government during peacetime. Maybe as a first step to restoring peaceful relations with Iran the US should formally apologize for betraying its own democratic values by ousting a democratically elected leader and installing a cruel dictator. By the way it was all about the fact that Mosaddegh wanted to nationalize Iran's oil. On Aug. 19, 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time its involvement in the 1953 coup against Iran's elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. It still has not apologized though.
