The West "woke" to its demise

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

'Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.'

That's one of many maxims from Mark Twain. Were he to be with us today, it's safe to assume that he would be siding with the majority when it comes to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Dark days for the West. Is it capable of recovering its vigour? (Image from Pexels.)

Russian, rush out?

Personally, having become accustomed to being against most of the legacy media in much of their reporting and their general stance as regards the coronavirus pandemic, that I find myself largely in agreement with them now in terms of the anti-Putin coverage seems rather strange.

Reading the full translated text of Vladimir Putin's speech as he outlined his reasons for the assault, looking at things from a distance and being far from an expert on the subject, his pretext for war really does seem absurd.

For sure, as it is for most things in life and as history has repeatedly shown us, it's not a case of one side utterly evil, the other side without any fault whatsoever.

However, while Putin speaks of neo-Nazis in Ukraine who would love nothing more than to see Russia obliterated — of which there perhaps are such types at some level — it has been his own Adolf Hitler-esque utterances and actions that lead one to the conclusion that he has lost it.

'Decisively is the operative word here. Deranged and miscalculated as it may be, Putin has acted. He's not a ditherer.'

Had this been a preemptive hit one could understand it more so. Strike before being struck. Yet, from the perspective of facing an actual military invasion, Moscow's move was unprovoked.

Of course, those defending Putin's actions say that a gradual squeeze has continuously been put on Russia from the West, in various ways. The Kremlin's ability to push back has been getting weaker.

Also, Europe's dependence on Russian gas, a powerful card as it is for Putin, isn't going to stay in his hand forever. So, the thought process must have been, 'act decisively now, or never.'

Betwixt and be Twain

Decisively is the operative word here. Deranged and miscalculated as it may be, Putin has acted. He's not a ditherer.

OK, when one is a dictator of a relatively powerful state, one doesn't have to worry about following everyday rules and regulations, never mind international law. 

The West, on the other hand, with all the caveats in viewing it as one united bloc in mind, is often hindered by its own well-meaning but at times pernicious laws.

What's more, whilst Western leaders are quick to talk up the virtues of their democracy, freedom and pluralism, they tend to suffer from long-sightedness. That is to say, they come out fighting — in word if not in deed — where they see such values under attack afar, but do little to address falling standards at home.

Over the last few years, it's almost as if many in the West have felt the end of history actually has been reached. 

The agenda-setting comfortable classes and elite in high-income nations, rather than concern themselves with deadly issues such as actual war and vast inequality, have focused on what at best can be described as fringe issues (read identity politics in its various forms here).

Instead of being liberating forces, they've been putting up barriers where none had really existed. (See https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2020/08/forget-novel-coronavirus-novel-first.html and https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2021/06/hold-tight-worst-is-yet-to-come.html for more context here.)

Seen in such a light, Putin's decision to invade Ukraine and his threat to those in the West who may dare to physically counterattack makes some sense.

Politically, the West has been weakened on the alter of irrational wokeness. One could go as far as to say that many of the policies that leaders from Warsaw to Washington have been implementing of late go against the very values they claim to uphold.

In this sense, whilst condemning Putin's actions one can also take the time to, as Twain put it, 'pause and reflect' and ask what exactly our own camp is trying to achieve. Beware of that majority mob.
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Forget the novel coronavirus, a novel First World war is a-brewing

An audio version of this blog is available here.
'Your grandparents and great-grandparents had to live through devastating wars, with a bloody end a very real possibility. Today, all you have to do to play your part is stay at home.'

Conventional warfare may be surplus to requirements for the next global conflict.

This has been one of the typical messages levelled at those who have been struggling or unwilling (there's no place for conscientious objectors) to comply with lockdown measures. A case of, 'cop yourselves on lads and stop complaining.'

Uncomfortable home truths

On the face of it, it makes sense. We're not being sent to the battlefields in our millions or asked to work around the clock to do our bit for the war effort. No. To stop the spread of this coronavirus, it's simply a case of adhering to an even more sedentary lifestyle than many had been living heretofore — sedentary in terms of work anyway.

In addition, in the more economically advanced nations, some are getting paid for their efforts i.e. getting money to do nothing.

The problem is, this just-stay-at-home thinking assumes people have no issue in doing so. Yet even the most misanthropic individual can suffer from cabin fever. 

A change of scenery every now and again, however unremarkable, is needed for one's mental health. Or at least the reassurance that you can move relatively freely about without fear of retribution. Simply knowing you are allowed to do something can be good enough in itself, you don't actually have to do it.

What's more, while there's been a cautious return of sporting events that have long served as catharses for many, seeing games played at empty venues has rendered them as exciting and emotionally useful as President Iván Duque's daily coronavirus updates. Indeed, both tend to leave us just more depressed.

'In the past, we could "rely on" a wide-scale war or two to give a raison d'être to the restless, fighting-fit, sexually frustrated (read incel here) men.'

Added to this is the increase in already existing worries amongst our younger generations about a financially insecure future, especially for those who have been struggling to find a meaning to their lives. 

To repeat myself for the umpteenth time — the pandemic appears to have inhibited foresight in some folk, if they ever had the faculty at all that is — the collateral damage from the stop-coronavirus-at-all-costs approach could be very high and long-lasting.

While some academics, though not all, say that previous pandemics played a part in reducing inequality, today's viral enemy will most likely do the opposite. 

For one, Covid-19 is not a fatal infection for the working-age population, bar a very small number of exceptions. So it won't be the case that it will be an employees' market when we get through this. Job insecurity and lack of opportunities will most likely be worse, not better.

Such an environment is a perfect breeding ground for discontent.

In the past, to counteract this, we could rely on a wide-scale war or two to give a raison d'être to the restless, fighting-fit, sexually frustrated (read incel here) men, with most of the women providing backing support on the home front or tending to the wounded in field hospitals.

Of course, we can never rule out another conflict where our First World nations get involved en masse — it is, after all, in the so-called developed regions where we tend to have more discontented young men.

However, today's modern warfare requires fewer infantry soldiers than previously. (In emerging-market countries such as Colombia, to highlight but one difference, it could be argued that criminality absorbs at an early age those who otherwise might have become lost, thus giving them a purpose with more pressing concerns to worry about than the meaning of life.)

'Our best "hope" might be for Mother Nature to strike first with her own deadly attack, by whatever means she deems necessary.'

So as much as there may be sufficient numbers of willing young men ready to take up arms for a cause, our next global conflict involving the advanced nations is likely to be less in-your-face than those that humanity suffered in the 20th century.

Nonetheless, by that very fact, it could prove to be much more pernicious. As we're seeing with coronavirus, when you're fighting a microscopic enemy it's rather difficult to pinpoint exactly where to strike a telling blow.

So imagine a more lethal, indiscriminate killer than Covid-19 at large amongst the populace. We're talking 21st-century biological warfare. 

In such a scenario, mobilising our frustrated young men — those who managed to avoid death from the initial wave of disease that is — would be of little use, save for sending them in as foot soldiers to tidy up and, perhaps, repopulate enemy territory if and when the belligerents have been defeated.

Bet on Beijing

It might sound far-fetched, but with a belief amongst a number of shrewd analysts that the US and its allies are already in a cold war with China, heating this up doesn't require an actual military battle.

If this current pandemic happens to be an unplanned test for something far uglier to come, China's leaders must surely be confident that having tight control over their people gives them a distinct advantage over the West, with its disenchanted, disunited, undisciplined youths. 

In fact, Beijing mightn't be far off the mark if it feels the West has hit the self-destruct button. In a zeitgeist of cancel culture and wokeness, a slight nudge is all that's needed to send it over the edge.

Our best hope might be for Mother Nature to strike first with her own deadly attack, by whatever means she deems necessary. The problem with this is that it most likely wouldn't sufficiently deal with the issue at hand in the way conventional warfare would i.e. disproportionately take out those disenchanted young men. 

It would, or at least should, however, make us all, wherever we're from and whatever we believe, appreciate our precious, privileged time on this planet. It's certainly going to take something more threatening than this novel coronavirus to achieve that in any case.

Having said that, it is an insult to all those who died in the world wars, not to mention the Spanish flu, to compare them to this current pandemic. Mercifully, Covid-19 is a discriminate killer and at that, not a terribly lethal one.

Nonetheless, for those of you who feel coronavirus is our defining war moment right now, you might want to start building that bunker while you still can. To borrow from the 1970s rock hit, 'You ain't seen nothing yet.'

Total war, 21st-century style, might be the only way to give a dose of much-needed reality to incel and virtue signaller alike.
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Click here to listen to an audio version of this blog entry.

Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".