As if there were no tomorrow
Our world is a huge powder keg. This is shown by the new annual report of the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research (Sipri, International Peace Research Institute).
China is arming, Russia and Ukraine anyway, and arms spending has risen most in the EU, highest in the US. A total of $2.24 quadrillion, or 2,240 billion, was spent on armaments and war preparation in 2022, an all-time high as if we had no other problems in the world.
Everyone arms and everyone else then feels threatened and arms again. We try to overcome our own fear by making others even more afraid. It’s a vicious cycle. The Sipri report notes that EU military spending is as high as it was during the Cold War. And far and wide, there is no Gorbachev in sight. Instead of the dream of “eternal peace” (Kant), we are facing more and more intense threats.
The international trust that had grown more and more thanks to Gorbachev at the end of the Cold War is giving way to ever-growing mistrust and aggressive competition. On a large scale, we are witnessing growing rivalries. In addition to Russian aggression in Ukraine, China and Japan are arming against each other as if there were no tomorrow. Never before has so much money been spent on armaments and war preparations in our world.
Wars, which were prepared, were usually also led. The high investments must be “worthwhile”. The Sipri report notes that twice as many people were killed by violence in the decade between 2010 and 2020 than a decade earlier. The world is getting darker.
Peace is still possible. But there is less and less of it. The nuclear arsenal had shrunk by 80 percent after the Cold War due to the disarmament initiative of Gorbachev and Reagan, from over 75,000 nuclear weapons to 15,000. But today it is rising again.
In this seemingly hopeless time, the Sipri chief, Briton Dan Smith, tells the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “If we give up hope that things will get better, then things will get even bleaker.”
Will it get better? That’s what the initiative “1millionforpeace.org” (the website is in preparation!) is currently trying to achieve according to this motto:
“If you want peace on our planet, there must be peace on the continents. For there to be peace on the continents, there must be peace in the countries. For peace to come to the countries, there must be peace in the regions. For there to be peace in the regions, there must be peace in the cities. For there to be peace in the cities, there must be peace in the communities and villages. For peace to exist in communities and villages, peace must enter streets and neighborhoods. In order for peace to exist in streets and neighborhoods there needs to be peace in homes. For peace to come into homes we need peace in families. In order for peace to come into families, there needs to be peace – within ourselves.”
All problems created by people can be solved by people. If indeed one million people practice this peace meditation for 12.5 minutes every week, it will have a great impact for peace in Europe and the world. We have neglected the spirit force for too long. The positive effect of this mass meditation has been successfully tested in several major US cities. The acts of violence decreased significantly there.
Information is available from the initiator of this initiative Marcel Connell: mail@marcelconnell.com and 1millionforpeace.org (the website is in preparation!).
Source
Franz Alt 2023 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
