Chapter 2
"the splitting of the atom has changed everything
save our modes of thinking, thus we drift towards
unparralled catastrophe"
-Albert Einstein
Weapons and Warfare
According to global statistics, the world currently spends $1.5 trillion US dollars on weapons and warfare.
This is an obscene amount of money to be spent on an institution that no longer has a viable place in world affairs.
Since the splitting of the atom, war has, in effect, been rendered obselete. With the magnitude and destruction
that would result from the use of today's weapons of mass destruction, their use must be specifically and emphatically
prohibited- a fact I'm sure all parties would agree upon. Therefore, war as an ideology and as an institution must be banned
if humankind is to have any chances of surviving the 21st century. There simply is other alternative. Small conflicts
always have the possibility of escalating into larger, more regional conflicts, which, in turn, could spiral out of
control to the point that that intercontinental missiles would be launched and wreak unspeakable horror, death and destruction
upon the Earth as a whole. War must, by all accounts, be strictly and institutionally terminated as a way of solving
confrontations and conflicts.
Thus said, there is a supreme need to replace confrontational warfare strategies with cooperative conflict resolution
strategies. Non-violent conflict resolution of most conflicts can be solved without resorting to force or violence. This is
especially relevant in lieu of the forementioned consequences of having to resort to today's arsenal of physical weapons in today's
increasingly volatile world. As tensions, conflict, disagreements, struggles and confrontations for scarce resources escalate,
for example, there is an even greater mandate to invest in a global institutional infrastructure that practices and promulgates
the art of peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution.
The US military-industrial-intelligence-security complex today spends up to $750 billion US dollars annually on the ways
of weaponry and warfare. This is approximately 1/2 of global military spending and exceeds the defense budgets of nearly all
the nations of the world combined. Surely, the USA is the major impediment in world affairs in the area of weapons and warfare.
Over the years and decades, trillions of US dollars have been absolutely wasted building and maintaining an infrastructure
of continual warfare on Earth. Funds should have been invested in building a green/sustainable and non-violent oriented global
society. If this had been started back in the 1970's when the environmental movement began, we most likely would not be facing
the number of regional and global crises' we now experience today.
The major paradigm shift in international security affairs in the 21st century is one that de-emphasizes and terminates the need
for more weapons and warfare and instead acknowledges the need to confront the major global environmental crises' that are starting
to dramatically assert themselves in our world today.
Instead of a Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)- to use a term from the Reagan years of the 1980's signifying the development
of space weapons- we must shift rapidly into a Strategic Environment Initiative, to a literal 'Mission to Planet Earth'. This
concept was beautifully exemplified and discussed in depth in Vice President Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance" a number of years ago.
In his book, Al Gore noted that confronting and solving the major global environmental threats to Planet Earth must become the
central organizing principle of human affairs as we enter the emerging 21st century Age of Ecology. Chief amongst those threats
concerns the planetary threat of global climate change and what it will mean for the future of human civilization.
The US military-industrial-intelligence-security complex is a dinosaur. There is no longer a need for weapons and warfare amongst
the peoples and nations anymore. The new global environmental threats to humanity- global climate change, the global water crisis, deforestation,
desertification, overpopulation, ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, air, water and soil pollution, the over-harvesting and fouling of
our oceans, etc...- cannot and will not be fought with bombs, missiles and bullets. The US Pentagon, the primary cause and funder of most
weapons in today's global military arsenal, no longer has a legitimate function serving mankind's international security needs in the
21st century. Therefore, this institution, as well as the entire panoply of domestic and international security, spy and defense related
agencies across the world, need to be swiftly and thoroughly de-funded, dismantled and decommissioned. There is no longer any place for the US military,
its ideology, its think tanks, its research labs or its current weapons and warfare strategies.
Rather, scientific innovation and genius now employed in the US Pentagon's industry of warfare
needs to be immediately reoriented and redirected towards a pro-life, pro-environmental global security agenda. Real security means an end
to the over-hyped, mis-concieved and antiquated need for a Nazi style 'Department Homeland Security' and the creation, instead, of an 'International
Environment Agency' responsible for protecting and securing the global environment for future generations. This is the real security need for
the emerging Age of Ecology we are quickly transiting into.
With regards to intelligence and spying, I'm sure the National Security Agency (NSA) and other global spy agencies can use their computer and
computational expertise in a more appropriate manner. Eavesdropping on citizens with spy cameras and listening devices on street intersections,
in buses and on street corners, not only violates people's privacy and dignity, it is a complete and utter waste of talent, resources and technology.
The promulgation of a fascist style police state worldwide must be terminated immediately. Without the need
for enemies, there no longer is a need to eavesdrop, intercept, monitor and surreptitiously record international communications. This must become
a thing of the past, its time to evolve beyond this level of dark secrecy. There is a need, though, to help disseminate information, technology
and expertise with regards to building, constructing and maintaining an emerging global green/sustainable world civilization. This is the real priority
for those with real intelligence.
Looking at global military expenditures today, it is quite easy to perceive that the human enterprise is going in the exact wrong direction
with regards to procuring and implementing real international security measures. Tremendous levels of talent, expertise, technology, innovation,
vision, energy (the US Pentagon is one the largest consumers of fossil fuels as well as one of the largest polluters in the world), and financial
capital have and continue to be squandered and completely wasted at a time when the need to build the foundations for real international security,
global survival and a Green World Order for human civilization has become a dire planetary necessity.
Its time to recognize the fact that weapons and warfare, principally organized, orchestrated and operated by the US military-industrial-
intelligence-security complex on behalf of international corporate banking cartels, no longer have a viable place in world affairs. We must
come to grips with the reality that negative confrontational policies, procurements and practices are no longer compatable with the positive
life-affirming and cooperative requirements for instituting and maintaining global environmental security interests. Again, it is a matter of
consciousness and intelligence. An advanced world society does not abrogate its true international security needs. In the emerging Age of Ecology,
that means envisioning, funding and constructing a global green infrastructure and society, not building, maintaining and procuring more
military bases or more sophisticated theater weapons or more personnel training in order to occupy and fight in foreign lands- or domestically
in the case of declared martial law.
As well, all efforts to build and launch weapons into space or to conduct space warfare on Earth must be terminated immediately. Satellites
and space agencies, such as the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and others, need to be re-directed away from finding ways and means to destroy
targets on Earth. Today's existing space and satellite agencies need to re-orient their missions and directives away from war-fighting and towards
securing our common future as a species. That means using advanced technology, intelligence and hardware to monitor all global environmental threats
to the biosphere. Although this is already being done on certain levels within NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and
other marginal governmental agencies, the US military is still wasting most of its resources on warfighting and spying in space.
As it is today, the US military-industrial-intelligence-security complex is a proxy force for international corporate banking conglomerates and
cartels. That is, the global elite use this institution to carry out the will and decree of international corporate capital for their own selfish
interests, as well as provide for themselves a buffer against an increasingly enlightened and agitated public- the mass majority of the world's citizenry.
The current stand-off is between a very few who control nearly all the world's wealth and a seething mass of humanity on the other end with little or no
real wealth. What stands between them both is the world's military establishment.
However, as the shift from a confrontational to a cooperative world paradigm unfolds, the need for this buffer will naturally evaporate.
The very nature of building a Green World Order will eliminate the need for weapons and warfare. There will be no human enemies, only common
global environmental threats to overcome and a sustainable, green-based society to maintain.
Unfortunately, today's global military carries out a portion of the global eugenics agenda as it continues to fund and fight wars worldwide for
the global elite. This was done most recently in Iraq and continues on many continents and in many nations throughout the world. With regards to
Iraq, the US military-industrial-intelligence-security complex slaughtered up to 2 million Iraqi men, women and children between 2003 and 2010.
Many more are expected to die in Iraq, including the US military personnel who fought in this war, thanks to the widespread use of depleted uranium (DU)
in its munitions. Depleted Uranium is now widely spread throughout the region, thanks to the wind, and will go on killing and maiming life for generations
to come, since DU stays radioactive for millions, if not billions, of years. It was, and continues to be, a virtual nuclear war that has and is still being
fought there- just done without the blasts.
Up to 2 million dead in Iraq and another military/eugenics war has been fought for the global elite. Many other wars have been fought over
the years with similiar results. World Wars 1 and 2 took the lives of many millions more. In fact, the 20th century was the bloodiest century
on record. Up to 100 million perished. If today's arsenal of thermonuclear, chemical and/or biological weapons are unleashed, the death toll
will surely rise into the billions. It is quite conceivable that a protracted global thermonuclear war could eliminate at least 1/2 of the
human race. Although this is just educated speculation on the numbers, the potential is there.
A global eugenics agenda, of which the US military industrial-intelligence-security complex is a central part, is incompatable with the
core tenets of constructing and operating a global green society. Cooperative peoples, institutions and nations build to nurture, grow and protect,
not kill, destroy and maim. The dynamic couldn't be more clear, its a struggle for the heart and soul of humanity, a literal battle between the forces
of life and the forces of death in the campaign to Save Our Planet.
The patriotic flag-waving in America in support of the misconceived ideal for supporting freedom, liberty and democracy in US wars of aggression
across the globe, needs to be harnessed with the ideal of flying an Earth Flag in support of all efforts to secure our planet from the threats of
global environmental destruction. This is the new "war", if it could be called that. A war for humanity, a war for the Earth, a war for the future
existence of our species. This time though, it's a battle in the defense of all life, not for its elimination. This is a much more worthy and
fullfilling task and one that will bring out the very best in human nature.
In summation, weapons and warfare have absolutely no place any longer on this planet. The advent of the nuclear bomb has made absolutely
sure of that. It is now time to evolve beyond the banality of human evil and aggression and move into an era and enlightened state of being that honors, respects
and celebrates life and the goodness thereof. If we collectively continue to pursue the folly of military warfare, we will surely perish as a species
in this century. However, if we take the cue given to us by the advent of the Nuclear Age and its subsequent global eugenics agenda, we can learn
to seize the initiative and rapidly work to transit our civilization into a sustainable, green, non-violent based world society.
The choice is to be green or not to be at all. Most rational people, if given the choice between non-violence and non-existence, will choose
well, I'm sure...
SOURCES:
1. Dr Helen Caldicott/If You Love This Planet
2. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
3. Center for Defense Information