Peace: Is It Possible?

I have written several pieces on the subject of peace. So far, none of them have managed to create a more peaceful planet, unfortunately. But I'm not going to stop trying.

Any kind of peace is achieved only after long negotiations with the opposing parties. Unless of course, one includes dropping nuclear bombs on Japan by the United States in 1945, which made negotiating unnecessary.

The main problem seems to be, no one wants to give any ground to people in which they have no trust. So, gaining trust is the first move to attempt. Now, if both sides have been committing atrocities against each other for a long time, the chances of trust are remote, but not impossible.

Allowing the protagonists to talk freely without being abusive, is a starting point. If they can see that their enemy is as furious as they are, about what has been happening, maybe they can see each other as human, and not animals, to be slaughtered as casually as swatting a buzzing fly.

Once they can understand how aggrieved their enemy is by their actions, then they will see why you did what you did. It all begins with someone lashing out over something fairly trivial, instead of sitting down and talking to the other person. Once both parties understand why something has taken place, then they are on the way to keeping the situation from escalating.

This is only a way of treating a problem prior to it getting out of hand, and beyond a civilised solution.

The Middle East is a simmering pot, always ready to boil over into horrific violence. There are many people who are happy to keep the pot boiling, forever if possible. I'm hoping there are far more people who would love the flame to be turned down, if not extinguished completely.

The many countries in that volatile region have very similar lifestyles and religious beliefs, so that shouldn't really be a problem, but human nature is a strange animal.

Land, and the need to keep/retake it is at the centre of this hellish mess. Land is almost always the main driver of war. Well, that and huge profits for the world's armament manufacturers.

If next door neighbours are prepared to go to unbelievable lengths over literally a few inches of land, then it is no surprise that countries will go to war over much larger pieces of land. The main reason for these conflicts is history, and the drawing of maps by the victors of past land wars.

As I'm sure you're aware, history is written by the victors. And, the defeated country's borders are redrawn in a similar way. Or just changed by whichever empire rules at that time. This always causes anger and unrest amongst the populations, some of whom can be left on the wrong side of a new border. India and Pakistan being an example of an imperialist decision, done without the slightest care for the people who are being separated from friends and family. This particularly bad idea is still on a knife edge seventy years after the act of independence.

The middle east is a maze of borders which have been drawn and redrawn over hundreds of years. Of course some people seem to think solving this issue will bring peace to this region. These people are of course, idiots. It wouldn't matter how many times the borders were moved, there would be complaints.

As far as I can see, talking is the answer. Just taking a look at how other people live, and see how similar they are to yourself. Chat to them about common ideals and who actually gains from them being at each other's throats. If people were aware of the real reasons for their communities being blown apart, and thousands of innocent people killed, they would surely rise as one and make sure these evil bastards stayed out of the region.

Whether the war is between left and right. Or North Korea and the rest of the world. Or every country in the middle east involved in what seems to be a never-ending conflict. All could you avoided if it wasn't for one thing..... money!

Profits from war are huge. Therefore, wars have to be started and kept stoked, in order to keep already massively wealthy people, in the style to which they have become accustomed. These people have no conscience whatsoever. Killing another few thousand innocent civilians doesn't matter to them at all. As long as the money keeps rolling in, they couldn't care less about collateral damage.

The answer must come from the public. Politicians have no interest in anything which won't benefit them personally, so we will have to overcome our natural reticence and stand up against the few who are prepared to kill thousands, in order to keep control of the rest of us.

This could take removing all assets and cash from the financial institutions which are set up to deliberately steal all we have at any given time. Look back to 2007/8 and the financial crash. This was engineered to make a very few people billions more than they already had.

Remember the "Libor" rate? The media kept saying this was what making everything go wrong. But of course the big banks and other financial institutions were actually setting this rate themselves. Nothing has changed ten years later. These people are still manipulating our lives in one way or another.

So, in order to have a relatively peaceful world, firstly there has to be no incentive to keep having wars for profit. This can only happen when people from the countries where war occurs most frequently, begin to sit down and talk to each other. Only then can we have agreement to rid these areas of all outside interference. Russia, China and the USA will be asked nicely to leave immediately. All troops and armaments to be taken out of the region and back to their countries of origin.

This way, the countries of the middle eastern area can decide on how to live together, without resorting to violence. If this worked, the same principle could be used in Africa, South America and Asia.

I know it all sounds mad and possibly hippie dippy, but unless the people who are having their lives ruined by greedy governments and corporations, stand up and say no, there is really no hope. It's up to us to make this happen!