War! What's It For?
“There may be people who deserve death, but there are far more people who deserve life. When you can five life to all those who deserve it, you might have earned the right to give death to those who deserve it.”
J.R.R. Tolkien gave the words to Gandalf
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My friend Eva posted them this morning
and I have brought them to you. DLA 23/6/24
Today’s Topic, War.
Now I can just hear you. Is she going to take on the lukewarm support for Ukraine in Congress? Is she going to face off with the Israeli-Hamas slaughter? What’s she gonna do?
Nope I’m going to go farther than that. I’m going to point out the top 17 military conflicts in the world as of the end of 2023 and estimated casualties cited by World Population Review, examine what they left out and ask you if that is worth it?
Nigeria’s terrorist insurgency, 8017 killed and continuing
Somalia Civil War 7874 killed
Burkina Fasa terrorist insurgency 7,622 killed
Mexican drug wars 6,793 killed
Syria Civil War 5,802 killed
Mali civil war/terrorist insurgency depending on who you ask 3965 killed
DR Congo terrorist insurgency 3946 killed
Ethopia Civil War 3,514 killed
Yemen Civil War 3,088 killed
Pakistan Border conflict with Afghanistan 2169 killded
Hati Civil War/ Gang War failed state 1950 killed
Columbia Civil War/Drug war 1829 killed
Israel-Palestinian War 1425 killed not including Gaza strip deaths
Iraq civil unrest/ terrorist insurgency 1274 killed
South Sudan ethnic violence 1238 killed
India Border disputes 1130 killed
Afghanistan civil war/terrorist insurgency 1007 killed
See anything missing since we are counting border disputes?
Where’s Ukraine and Russia? Well, both sides lie about their numbers. Russian losses from February 2022-June 2024 are estimated at 545,240. Ukrainian losses are by US estimates 31000, 17000, 70000, or 120000. The estimates are probably politically driven. Too many dead and financial support from the US and elsewhere will dwindle as the war becomes a lost cause. Too few and the reports are not credible, or evidence the war is doing fine without us. The truth is somewhere in between. One thing is certain. Losses from this war exceed losses from any of the other reported conflicts.
Where’s the US border war? United States/Mexico border counted 843 deaths at the border among those US Customs identified and counted. Not enough to make the chart. However the International Organization for Immigration and Migration counted in 686 people dying before they get to the United States in 2022. There were 500 on their way and dead in January-September 2023. Do those lives, those people and families and children count or not?
Incidentally, or perhaps not so incidentally most sources indicate all these counts at the US/Mexican border are conservative. People are reported lost and never found. When questioned about the body count the U.S. government and many of our citizens blame the human traffickers who take the money without concern whether their customers arrive dead or alive. True they are directly responsible. They wouldn’t have customers for transportation of undocumented immigrants if the U.S. did a better job of planning and implementing migration for at risk people. Remember 3 of the most dangerous conflicts in the world in my first list are the countries the immigrants cross the US-Mexican border seeking safety from armed conflict and starvation or medical treatment because food and medicine are not available to them at home. At home, where there is war.
What else is missing? The total number of deaths in Gaza and Israel since October 23, 2023
1200+ killed by the Palestinian bombing of the concert. 350 more were abducted. Since then Israel reports over 500 Israelis killed.
The body count in Gaza is incomplete. Probably 10,000 missing are dead buried under the rubble from the bombing, but active war zones are hard to count. You get shot at or bombed while you are doing it. Nevertheless, the UN and the US agree that about 34,000 have been killed, civilians and para military Hamas fighters/terrorists through April 2024. Two figures are reported that makes it confusing but either way the numbers are horrific. The health ministry in Gaza reported 24,686 identified bodies with name, date of birth, gender included. The total including those identified and those unidentified is 34,622. Again that is through the end of April 2024.
These numbers are disgraceful. World Population Review evidently barely counted the Gaza causualties at the end of 2023. Maybe nobody had numbers that early. Maybe nobody wanted to believe it was that bad. Now we know it’s worse.
I’m NOT discussing politics here. I don’t care who is right or wrong in a conflict. In my counting both sides of a conflict are wrong if 100’s of people are dying, let alone 10’s of thousands. We are an alleged intelligent species. We can talk things out. I know the level of war crimes and violence between warring sides makes truce next to impossible. The greed of drug wars or insurrectionists hoping to acquire or hang on to wealth makes mutual trust virtually impossible. We can apply that to every conflict on the list. Are willing to accept this carnage? Are we willing to throw tax money into war machines indefinitely?
Remember, I said is it worth the human deaths? I did not say is it worth defense of democracy, defence of territory, defense of historic boundaries, defense of raw materials and natural resources. What is human life worth?
In asking the question I have to be honest; we went through D-Day memorial services on its 80th anniversary. That assault on the shores of France meant that Hitler lost. It took time beyond that date, but he lost. 4414 men in the Allied services were killed. Their neat memorials in France are heart rending. Their bravery unfathomable. The gaps left in their families continue to be shattering 80 years later. The horrendous killing machine Hitler put together both in war and in genocide boggles the mind. Inhumanity like that must be answered. But I will say of that what I say of all these other conflicts. If we who defend humanity against all assaults act bolder, sooner. If we acted first with intervention instead of war machines, what then? Would we stop these conflicts before they start? I learned in history class a long time ago that the punishments exacted on Germany after WWI lead to the rise of fascism in Germany and the exultation of Hitler. That lead to the death camps and WWII.
I will add to that the holocaust of the Jews during World War II fed world guilt and unwise policies of restoring the Holy Land to them without adequate planning. The conflict between Palestine and Israel was absolutely predictable because of how it was done. Now under the rule of Netanyahu who is a convicted felon by the way, has turned the nation (not the people) into the very thing they hate.
Similarly, our inability to stop Putin in Belarus, Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic and the occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions which became part of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in 2022 have made him bold in Ukraine. When the USSR broke up, the world needed a plan to prevent reunification attempts. The UN needed a way to act wisely with power. I know. Pie in the sky. Saint Happinin. And so we war. And continue to war. And couch our wars in terms of patriotism, good vs evil, inevitable wars. And that is a lie. Another damned lie. Human lives of every ethnicity have to worth more than this.
I believe it was the Dalai Lama who said that all wars are unjust wars. Sounds about right.