I find nothing more disturbing than demolition of a long preserved and much cherished image or belief. Occurrence of this often gives rise to cynicism, shaking the core of the belief system. The recent act of violence in Japan is one such event.
People of my generation have known Japanese
people for their politeness and commitment to non-violence. The pictures of
Japanese crowds showing remarkable patience and calmness during adversities
have been much cherished by post WWII generations. The assassination of the
former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, last week, while he was addressing a
public meeting has shattered many images I was carrying in my mind. This is perhaps
first of its kind of act of violence since assassination of Inejirō Asanuma, the then Chairman of the Japan
Socialist Party. However, in the pre-war era, political assassinations were
rather commonplace in Japan. Japanese people took pride in their martial and
imperialistic traditions. Many believe the 1945 nuclear attack on Nagasaki and
Hiroshima overwhelmed Japanese society, burdening it with the guilt of being
one of the main characters in the two disastrous world wars and losing its
pride to the USA.
In fact, after decimation
of the manifest fascist forces (e.g., Germany and Italy) and imperialistic
forces like Great Britain, Japan and Austro-Hungarian empire post WWII, the
world has been a rather peaceful place as compared to the preceding 2000yrs.
The conflicts post WWII have mostly been contained. Even during the height of
the cold war between NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, and shenanigans of star
wars, there had never been a threat of escalation to the scale of larger World
War.
However, if we correlate some
of the recent events and trends, the picture that would emerge is not very
comforting. For example, consider the following events and trends:
·
Assassination
of Shinzo Abe.
·
Numerous
acts of violence across USA and Europe, apparently perpetrated by random people
who are not radicalized.
·
Blatant
violation of international laws by Russia in invading Ukraine, as energy
starved Europe overlooks the devastation of a sovereign nation.
·
China is threatening
its neighbours’ territorial and economic integrity.
·
USA
handing over Afghanistan to Taliban.
·
Communists
(or socialists) winning elections (re-elections) in many jurisdictions, e.g.,
US, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Bolvia, Peru,
Honduras, and Columbia, etc. Polls are indicating that Bralians are most likely
to lecet a leftist eader in October election, as Chinese premier Xi Jinping
further strengthens his position at 20th National Congress of CCP
later this year.
·
Reliance
of population on governments for meeting basic needs rising exponentially along
with the rise in the ffinancial and fiscal vulnerabilities
across the globe.
·
Frequency
of mass public protests rising in various jurisdictions.
·
Tendency
of governments to overregulate and over govern increasing across jurisdictions.
·
Expansion of NATO.
When I look at these events and trends and many
other similar things happening around, I get a feeling that people of the world
are tired of pretending politeness, being democratic and practicing
non-violence. They appear eager to get over their guilty conscience and
establish supremacy of their respective races. We may in fact be close to the return
of Vikings Age 2.0.
In the past 6-7 decades, we have seen many
countries being invaded in the garb of restoring or establishing democracies or
people’s rule in these countries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends that
façade. This will perhaps re-establish the legitimacy of colonialism and
imperialism. We shall see multiple such instances in the coming decades.
Before we reach a stage when the new Roman,
British, Ottoman, Qing empire would rise, we need to cover a long distance. Who
covers this distance fast while conserving enough energy and stamina to occupy
the post would decide the new world order, maybe 40-50years from now.
More thoughts on this later.
