OK, the world is in a mess, so what are we going to do about it?
One thing is crystal clear, we have to stop all this fighting. Fighting achieves nothing but negatives. We need positives. The amount of money and basic resources that are wasted in destruction is ridiculous. The cities of the USA are falling apart and yet billions of dollars are spent on fighting people on the other side of the world. What benefit was there from the Korean war? the Vietnam war? the destruction of Yugoslavia? the countless wars in Afghanistan? Ukraine, and all the regime changes around the world? Think of all the good that could have been done with all those wasted resources. And since the end of the second world war one cant even say of any of those subsequent wars that “twas a famous victory”. Not a single one has produced a victory.
In short, the world has to wake up to an obvious reality that we need to learn to get along with each other.
Secondly, we need to have a totally different approach to the business of government. The current systems simply dont work. In my book, Governments Are Obsolete I make a case for the use of blockchain technology to bring back a semblance of democracy to the world, and by democracy I mean the original sense of the word, where people can get together and come to a decision about how things should be done. The current system doesn’t work, and it is time we stopped calling it democracy when in reality it is good old fashioned fascism.
Thirdly, we need to keep governments well away from any control over money. They have completely lost the plot and behave like reckless teenagers with their first credit card.
Fourthly, we need to start thinking in terms of a future, rather than operating on past principles that maybe worked in a long gone environment. The concepts of time, place and physicality have changed out of all recognition during just my lifetime. Life isn’t remotely like it was in Chaucer’s time, or even in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. We need to learn to become our own contemporaries. That seems to be difficult.
Once upon a time the Romans ruled a large part of the world. Where is Rome today? A quarter of the planet was once ruled from Westminster. These days not even all the British Isles is ruled from Westminster.
The United States has never ruled anywhere, but has pretended it has because it has managed to bully nations without actually ruling them. Bullies dont survive because no-one likes them, and they provide no benefits, only pain.
The fact is that Rome is ancient history, Westminster is the past, and Washington is on the slippery slide. Failure to realise that is going to cause problems going forward.
It could be said that 2024 is fast becoming a significant year.
We are only a third of the way into that year and already we have had South Africa take a nuclear power to the International Court of Justice. That is unheard of.
That has been quickly followed by Nicaragua (Who?) hitting Germany with a similar action. Even a couple of years ago such actions would have been unheard of.
Back in the fifties and sixties Britain realised that the days of hegemony were coming to an end, and Westminster couldn’t divest itself of the empire quickly enough. First, Britain could no longer afford an empire, and second, the various countries were growing up, expanding, and getting their own ideas, and that meant their own identities.
In the sixties I travelled to over a hundred countries. What made those journeys interesting and exciting was the fact that each country I visited was very different from the others, and was nothing like my home country.
Nowadays, if I travel around, I find that most countries look the same. Clearly there are differences, but those differences are more cosmetic than fundamental. These days Nicaragua feels comfortable causing a spot of bother on the international stage. That’s new. If we fail to take that on board we are living in the past.
So what else should we take note of?
The fact that the USA is the biggest industrialised country on the planet isn’t about to change, but it is about to become one of the biggest such countries, and that apparently small change is symptomatic of most of the changes that are happening right before our eyes.
The concept of Rome and Westminster is dead. The world is becoming more of a group rather than a top cat calling the shots. One only has to note the mess that is the EU to see that a top down system simply isn’t working these days. The concept of BRICS+ is growing exponentially. That is a group of nations that have decided to talk with each other as a community. They dont want to be a unit, but more along the lines of a group of friends. If only the EU could adopt a similar ethos, which is why I stick to my mantra Defund Brussels. Take away their money and they blow away in the breeze. We dont need those anachronisms any more. History has moved on, hopefully to a better phase, but at least it is a different phase and I’m all for giving it a chance.
A couple of years ago there was BRICS, a group of five nations. Now it is BRICS+, a group of thirty nations, with a growing waiting list. Ignore that at your peril.
I keep saying that the dollar and the USA are not going to disappear, but they are no longer the dominant ideas on the globe. They are simply part of a rich fabric. This needs to be reflected in the way the Security Council functions. The days for vetoes is past.
It also needs to be reflected in the way that Europe in particular views the international stage. It is no longer a matter of East -v- West, but a matter of the past -v- the future. Upon reflection, I think I ought to have said, the past -v- the present. That future is already here.
I will expand somewhat on this theme next week, in the meantime, have fun, enjoy the sunshine, and dont forget to smile, and even dance. Those things do you good.
Details of the book referenced above.
Governments Are Obsolete by Dr John Clare
Available on Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDVJ61PM
Available on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CDVJ61PM
A New Way Forward