The Year in Review:
It came in kind of flat, a practice ball, designed to perfect form, technique, not really designed to fly. And, it didn’t. When it ends, if it ever does, it will limp out with a pained, stilted gate.
Around the world the Covid pandemic held tight. Vaccinations have helped, they could have helped so much more. However the power of the internet to provide dogma for the misinformed and produce patterns of resistance had grown beyond comprehension. Everywhere you looked there were people claiming the vaccination would make you magnetic, a mindless terminal for 5G manipulation, a victim of cardiomegaly, it would alter a person’s DNA… the list goes on, it was almost Darwinian in the way it evolved, twisted, turned on itself. There was always someone who would claim to know something nobody else knew. Some people will do anything to get a little press. And people continued to die. Eventually, it will probably contain itself, even the Black Death only lasted seven years.
In America, we’ve managed to overcome years of hard earned progress, as Roe vs Wade was overturned. In a decision that surprised almost everyone and probably should have surprised nobody, the Supreme Court, with a moral super majority, struck down the landmark ruling claiming it was “egregiously wrong” and the arguments were “exceptionally weak.”
For fifty years the law stood, weathered every challenge, now it was “an abuse of judicial authority.” Many people believe that should be the motto of this supreme court. “The Justice Samuel Alito abuse of judicial authority jug band.” Thanks to the court ruling women coming of age today have fewer freedoms than their mothers and grandmothers.
Russia, in an ancient, irresistible, quest for empire invaded Ukraine. The Ukrainians, outmanned, and outgunned, but stout, have mounted an admirable resistance, and the fighting has become similar to a WW I stalemate. Each side mounting a costly, ineffective offensive for a few square kilometers of territory before digging in for a protracted defense. It is a perfect formula for escalation. Bigger guns, more tanks, toss more infantry men into the meat grinder. There is a formula, start big and expand, throw everything into the battle, if that doesn’t work, escalate, until there is only one option; victory. Even if the cost is completely out of proportion to any possible benefits.
Since WWII there haven’t been any real wars, America, Korea, China had a short violent conflict in the early 50s. America had long, protracted struggles in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Soviet Union had several wars in Eastern Europe, and Asia. China, as is the case with China throughout its long, well documented history, has been fighting almost constantly someplace. For the most part the combatants have managed to contain the fighting to a regional squabble and the rest of the world could pick sides, provide arms and offer assistance.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks different.
It doesn’t take a fevered imagination to see this one blowing up, and dragging Finland, Poland and Belarus (most experts agree Belarus wouldn’t be much help to Russia, but it could trigger a terrible upheaval in the region) into the fray. And a focused, narrow invasion soon becomes a regional battle for independence, or domination, depending on who’s telling the story. Certainly, Germany isn’t going to want Russian tanks rolling into Poland whose border is less than 90 kilometers from Berlin. There are a lot of possibilities, the only decent one is Russia giving up and going home, which probably isn’t going to happen. What if China decides everybody is so involved in Eastern Europe they won’t have time or military resources to assist in the defense of Taiwan? Echoes of 1939, the actors have changed roles, but all the parts have been cast, we’re just waiting for the opening scene. This time everybody will suffer the same fate as most of Eastern Europe and Asia.
Most of the people who lived through WWII are gone. Most of the world assumes we are much brighter than they were in 1939. However, we probably aren’t. There are people who claim The Holocaust didn’t happen. Most of the terrible scars on our collective conscious have been covered with comforting, agreeable, cosmetics. All of the pain that has forced rulers to behave with moderation is forgotten. We dance on the brink. There are two choices, move away, or fall in.
It was funny, when 2020 ended I was left with a quiet sense of dread, but a small dose of optimism. Certainly 2021 couldn’t get any worse. We had ditched our celebrity apprentice dictator. The Covid vaccine was reaching wide levels of distribution. Things slid into decay. When 2021 ended I felt maybe we had turned the corner. We hadn’t.
Now that 2022 is ending, I don’t really have much hope for 2023.
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