If I were...

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Synopsis: This is a blog about wishful thinking of an incorrigible romantic who sees all the problems facing the world with solutions if only the people have the will to solve them and wishes that daring and audacious people step forward to solve them.

Sometimes I feel like doing something drastic that would have a lasting impact on the humanity in a very positive way. It is like saying that we all have the power to do something that may even surprise us in a pleasant way.

My wife just came over and peeped over my shoulder and saw that I had just started to write another blog and exclaimed “Another blog? Oh my! The ideas keep coming to you fast?” and then joyously broke into a song: If I were a rich man –do be do be do. ( Topol singing in Fiddler on the roof ). She is a funny girl.

But it is a very serious blog because what is happening today around the world is very frightening and is bringing us all closer to the doomsday that Nostradamus had predicted so long ago. I fervently hope that the old prophet wrote about the third apocalypse when he had too much to drink or was smoking pot but I also have a feeling that one must always take his prophecy very very seriously indeed because he has proven that he saw correctly what was to happen in the future.

Now everyday some politician is threatening someone with dire consequences in reaction to the bravados of some tin pot dictator somewhere that can quickly escalate into something nastier than some insulting words that are dutifully reported in the mass media by the overzealous reporters who are always looking for the headlines that may put a Pulitzer in their pocket so the words spread fast in this technology driven world.

One can see right away on the TV or even in the hand held devices the latest videos and news that is breaking out in some part of the world right now because the videos are uploaded instantly, edited or not and broadcast by the networks who are hell bent on outdoing their rivals to generate more sponsors and income.

Very seldom they stop to think about the consequences of such wide ranging and instant coverage from any part of the world because these reporters are always ready to interview anyone of consequence on a short notice and put him or her on the worldwide TV.

This was not the case some 50 years ago when there was no internet, no satellite coverage, no digital cameras that could send a photo instantly to the news HQ in Atlanta from the distant part of the world, no cell phones or satellite phones. Even the two way radios looked like a big bottle gourd with very limited range that could not transmit or receive urgent messages from the soldiers in dire need of assistance from their commanders just 5 km away and died in large numbers (See the movie A bridge too far) during the last world war in Europe.

But now we talk about multiple satellites guiding a drone 5000 kms away in Afghanistan or Pakistan targeting with pin point accuracy a single terrorist who is planning or plotting a new mischief and taking him out in a second.

Now we see how fast the bad news spreads all over the world the moment it is uploaded causing panic in the stock market and sowing fear in the heart of ordinary folks everywhere who wonder what will happen if a foul mouth moron with inflated ego who has the nuclear button nearby all the time decides in a fit of exaggerated rage to push that button.

We hear almost every day one country threatening another with such weapons that also has such weapons and vows to retaliate instantly so it spirals out of control quickly into a nightmare scenario for the aggressor and the attacked country.

Remember the Cuban missile crisis that John Kennedy took such a huge gamble on while waiting to see if Khrushchev will blink first? No one until now realizes how catastrophically close they came to blows over the stationing of missiles in Cuba at that time and how at the last moment sanity prevailed and Khrushchev pulled out of the confrontation.

If anything like that happens again , will there be sanity and will the parties realize in time to avert a global catastrophe , swallow their super inflated pride and step back from the brink ?

Have these idiots ever experienced the effect of a nuclear detonation that killed and maimed over 200000 innocent people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in a very short time? The politicians with such enormous power at their fingertips far away sitting in an air-conditioned war room 5 stories underground somewhere can never imagine what such a weapon is capable of doing because none of them playing with such fire have ever ever experienced the heat and melting of flesh of people far away.

They will only see the satellite photos on their screens because no gum chewing cameraman and those insensitive reporters will dare go to the scene and report from there and see the burning bodies themselves. A bomber pilot flying his B-52 over Vietnam never saw the destruction and bodies on the ground from 35000 feet so he went back to his base where other pilots congratulated him for a job well done over beer.

Many countries now possess such frightening weapons and the knowhow to make them to fit into missiles that can fly over thousands of kilometers to fall on a target with deadly accuracy. You don’t need the planes to carry such bombs anymore because it can be dropped by missiles or drones that are controlled from a great distance from the comfort of the air cooled war rooms.

The question to ask is why a single person somewhere has such enormous power that he can unleash that can start a third world war without the permission of the people who elected such a person or the congress that represents the people in theory. The tin pot dictators who also have such power are called dictators because they are not elected by the people or are elected in a fake election where the mad man is the sole contender so no one can vote against him.

We see the tension escalating every day in an isolated mountain pass at the base of Bhutan or Ladakh or somewhere else where both parties are rapidly sending more troops, more guns and more bullets and getting their long range missiles on high alert so it adds fuel to the fire on both sides. No one wants to back down.

So this is the crux of the matter. Why no one wants to back down and pull back where they can sit down and talk it over and find a peaceful solution? Their news media and political commentators do not make it easy and keep telling everyone they must not back down so that the enemy is taught a lesson at the cost of suffering themselves. The enemies are not impotent either and can cause terrible damage in retaliation but the commentators do not seem to understand it and keep on adding fuel to fire that may soon get out of control.

I know why. It is called National pride which must not be messed with. The leaders are willing to attack another country in the name of preserving national pride at any cost because such people are not accountable to their own people.

No one cares to know that Adolf Hitler tried at least 7 times to make peace before the start of the war with the allies but failed each time because the national pride of the allies would not accept the peace offers that Hitler made. As a last resort Hess himself flew his plane and landed at a military field in England and said he had come to sign the peace agreement and stop the madness but we all know what happened to Hess. Now if you ask anyone who is less than 100 years old who was Hess and they will say something like “ never heard of him or what is hess instead of who was he” or some such nonsense.

Do people really learn from their past mistakes? If they did then why they keep on repeating the same mistakes in the name of national pride and inflated ego of just a few people who have their fingers on the nuclear buttons.

We now live in an interconnected world like never before where an incident taking place far away has instant repercussions elsewhere. If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz and even threatens to close it then people all over the world start to panic. It is because so much oil passes through the Gulf that runs the word economy that closing it for a brief time causes panic everywhere.

If India blockades the only port of Pakistan , people panic, prices rise sharply and people start queuing up for gasoline and food. If China blocks the passageway through Malacca even for a few days, Japan starts to panic. If India blocks the passage way through Andaman, all the West ward and East ward shipping traffic comes to a halt causing of a lot of anxiety in many countries. These countries know that they have an ace up their sleeve that they can play at crucial times like war.

Now I come to the part where we can study this false notion of national pride and not backing down no matter what syndrome. We see that all countries boast of their national pride and are determined not to sell it or pawn it at the time of threats and posturing. The politicians use it as a currency they can cash in later on and see great benefit in the ballot boxes.

Remember what happened to Khrushchev when he swallowed his national pride and backed off from the Cuban missile crisis? He was wise but his generals did not agree with him and sent him into retirement promptly. So behind every leader stand a row of hardline military men and their lackeys who try to keep the level of animosity at the highest level so that they can start a war.

May be they get bored in their desk jobs and want to go back to the field where the action is so they want war. America has been continuously at war with one country or other since 1942 because from the general’s point of view, a war is always very profitable business. The private suppliers of war materials make huge amount of money form wars.

Don’t forget it was the military men who pressured Truman to drop the A bomb on Japan when they knew that Japan was ready to capitulate. Truman did not want to do it but the pressure on him was unbearable so he finally gave the infamous order that caused so much death. He also knew that no court in the world could make him account for what he did because such people enjoy immunity from prosecution unless you are a leader in Chechnya or Serbia.

So now I will write what if I were a leader with such enormous power to do so much harm to the humanity, what will I do?

I will swallow my ego and national pride and fly to North Korea and surprise their leader and sit down with him with a beer and solve the issues amicably.

I will extend my hand as a friend and offer peace without any preconditions and pull out all American troops from the Korean peninsula and sign a peace accord that will remove all the threats that hang on that poor country forever so that they can also back down, improve trade relationship with the rest of the world and put all their missiles to sleep like some other countries do and prosper.

I would then convince that two Koreas are the same people, same language and with the same heritage so they should unite and become one strong and prosperous democratic country that is militarily also strong and stable with a vibrant economy. I will convince the dictator that the days of one man rule is no longer practical anywhere so he should retire and enjoy his retirement in a Swiss chalet somewhere with a Nobel Prize in his pocket and a lasting legacy of a peace maker. He will understand what is at stake and he will see enormous benefits in these proposals and sign the deal.

The two Koreas will become one just like Germany and prosper beyond belief. The separated families will be reunited and there will be permanent peace there making Japan and neighbors happy.

America will no longer station thousands of troops there at a great cost so they will save a lot of money that they will be able to use to give every one free lunch and free tuition in their own country.

I will also make a lasting peace accord between India and Pakistan and urge them to reunite with India as it was before 1947 so that the united India will prosper and develop fast bringing prosperity to everyone while keeping their military strong.

The terrorists will be deprived of the oxygen they need to fuel the fire of hatred so they will disappear. It will be a win win situation for everyone because no one will lose and everyone will profit. The Kashmir issue will be solved with the stroke of a pen and no one will die in endless border wars.

I will convince Zimbabwe dictator to retire. He is 93 years old so has a few years left anyway so he should retire and enjoy his grandchildren so that the country can be brought back from the brink of collapse where a loaf of bread costs one trillion pounds which is their worthless currency.

I will convince Israel and Palestinians to make peace so that the Palestinians can have their own country and prosper with trade and tourism with the rest of the world. All the millions of Palestinian refugees languishing in camps in other countries will be able to return home and live in peace. Most of all Israel will be able to live in peace and prosperity.

I will build a mosque on the other side of the Sarayu river in Ayodhya in India that will replace the mosque the Hindu militants destroyed so that Hindus can build their temple of Ram there so there will be peace between the Hindus and Moslems from then on. Ram was born in Ayodhya so building a temple for their God there is very important to all Hindus but the Moslems should be given an alternative like land where they will build their mosque. ( This wish of mine has come true )

The Kurds should be given their homeland just like anyone else because they have suffered a long time and still suffer. A Kurdistan will shine as an independent nation where women never have to bear arms to fight again. I will make peace there with all the surrounding countries so that each makes concessions to make it happen. Again everyone will benefit from it.

My list is long but I will stop here because it is just a wishful thinking. I will never be the president of any country with nuclear weapons and I will never be a peace maker but if I were a peace maker, this is what I will do because I do not have super ego and false national pride that prevents people to act in a sane manner.

I think someday Malala Yousafzai will become the prime minister of Pakistan and she will be a great peace maker who will win her second Nobel Prize. I may not be alive when that happens but I wish her all the success.

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Anil’s biography in Japanese https://wordpress.com/posts/thestoryofalifetimeofanilinjapanese.wordpress.com

Anil’s biography in French. https://wordpress.com/posts/mybiographyinfrench.wordpress.com

Anil’s biography in English. https://wordpress.com/posts/storyofalifetimeofanil.wordpress.com

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