Winds of War

The winds of war are beginning to blow. This is something none of us ever believed to see again. The us in the previous sentence are the ones who already lived through a world war. I don't think there are too many of us of that generation, but some are still here. And the memories of a war of yesteryear is still with us. The problem of this country is that they never had a war in their world with the exception of the Civil War which was eons ago and they can not even remotely imagine what it feels like.

Americans have no conception what a war is like. What is it to wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of sirens warning of enemy bombers coming and running down to the basement to find safety in a bunker. What is it to hear bombs falling nearby and pray that your building would not get hit and if it does it would not fall down on you. They don't know what it is to see enemy soldiers going down your street with guns and hope that you will survive this. 

All they see is from tv, from the reporters who get high on reporting from frontlines. It takes a certain type of reporters to become war correspondent. And all what the people here know is through the eyes of these frontline correspondents. Since 1945 I think this is the closest that we are to another all-encompassing war. Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, North Korea, China are enough to light the fuse.

The sad and scary thing is that now there is open talk about the possibility of a war. And that war will not be fought in the trenches in the traditional way. A few days ago, I read a comment from a high-ranking Russian somebody, I don't remember who and he said that in case of a war they can take care of all the NATO countries in about 30 minutes. Now, how does this sound? Does a statement like this gives enough reason to run and hide? But where?

This universal saber rattling or ominous quiet is very, very scary. There are powers with their fingers on the button and threatening everybody around. They all realize that any damage they might cause is reciprocal, but it doesn't seem to phaze them. Just like Hamas. The damage they are causing to their own people, and the total destruction of their own homes doesn't seem to make them feel anything. The fact that they cause the deaths of thousands of their own people is not a deterrent. And that is the way North Korea, Russia and China feels.

While people in Europe live in fear and anxiety about the world events, people in this country have their heads stuck in sand. As long as the supermarket shelves are stacked, there is gas at the gas stations, and the favorite tv shows come on all is well. And I pray to God that these attitudes never change!