Penultimate Friday was my birthday. I took time off to reflect on my life and the world around me. For the love of God, I am not where I had expected that I would be at this time in my life. And the world is not where I had expected it to be at this time in its life.
I know what I want to do about myself. It was what to do about the world that took me a long time to figure out. But I’d get it after all. And what I came up with really surprised me.
My solution to the world’s problem is that it is time to bring on the Third World War. The world has become so stagnate, for so long, that I think there is the need to shake things up. Different peoples are holed up in their different political, cultural and religious outposts from where they fire their missiles.
After 70 years of relative peace (apologies to all those trapped in one of those forgotten wars), the world is itching for a dramatic paradigm shift.
I predict that it will be upon us in just four years. The forces are aligning in such a way that a new spark will result in a big firework.
On the eve of every world war, there is usually the one who wants peace by every means possible. He is often called the appeaser. He is almost always followed by the one who wants war for any reason. He is often called the hawk. The transition from appeaser to the hawk sends up adrenaline and testosterone that the possibility of blinking even in the face of abyss is impossible.
Looking at the world stage today and all the scenarios possible, China may not take the bait on Taiwan. India may not take the bait on Kashmir. They will not because these two nations are poised to enjoy the spoils of the impending war. But nothing else is off the table.
With the right leader, America may take the bait on Iran. With or without America, Israel may take the bait on Iran. Pakistan may take the bait on Kashmir, Kabul, and any kabum it conceives. And of course, there are the jokers and the attention seekers. These are not far fetched. They are virtually at our doorstep.
The cold war principally pitched two large nations with large spheres of influence against each other. None was ready to destroy itself in order to destroy the other. But world wars are caused when a moderately large nation decides to risk destroying itself in order to swallow other nations and build a larger area of influence.
Nationalism triggers nation state wars. Ideology triggers proxy and regional wars. If you increase the notch, you turn nationalism into Fascism, and ideology into religiosity. That is when you get the right mix of gun powder.
The 70 years of relative peace was not achieved because Europe learned to love each other. It was achieved because the geographical position of the United States, the arrow head of world affairs in the last 70 years, made it almost impossible for nations interested in taking on America to have any chance. But that changed with America moving its operational posts into the hot zones of the world and new and widely available missiles shrinking distances between nations.
I have always been a pacifist all my life. I turn the other cheek 7x7x7 times. I recognize that innocent people suffer and die in wars. But I love the world so much that I do not want it to remain the same. I do know just one thing that changes the world – and that is war.
Let us do it, baby. Who will start the Third World War?
