How to Destroy a Planet Without Really Trying<\/strong><\/p>\nThe question is: What are people doing about it? None of this is a secret. It\u2019s all perfectly open. In fact, you have to make an effort not to see it.<\/p>\n
There have been a range of reactions. There are those who are trying hard to do something about these threats, and others who are acting to escalate them. If you look at who they are, this future historian or extraterrestrial observer would see something strange indeed. Trying to mitigate or overcome these threats are the least developed societies, the indigenous populations, or the remnants of them, tribal societies and first nations in Canada. They\u2019re not talking about nuclear war but environmental disaster, and they\u2019re really trying to do something about it.<\/p>\n
In fact, all over the world \u2014 Australia, India, South America \u2014 there are battles going on, sometimes wars. In India, it\u2019s a major war over direct environmental destruction, with tribal societies trying to resist resource extraction operations that are extremely harmful locally, but also in their general consequences. In societies where indigenous populations have an influence, many are taking a strong stand. The strongest of any country with regard to global warming is in Bolivia, which has an indigenous majority and constitutional requirements that protect the \u201crights of nature.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ecuador, which also has a large indigenous population, is the only oil exporter I know of where the government is seeking aid to help keep that oil in the ground, instead of producing and exporting it \u2014 and the ground is where it ought to be.<\/p>\n
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died recently and was the object of mockery, insult, and hatred throughout the Western world, attended a session of the U.N. General Assembly a few years ago where he elicited all sorts of ridicule for calling George W. Bush a devil. He also gave a speech there that was quite interesting. Of course, Venezuela is a major oil producer. Oil is practically their whole gross domestic product. In that speech, he warned of the dangers of the overuse of fossil fuels and urged producer and consumer countries to get together and try to work out ways to reduce fossil fuel use. That was pretty amazing on the part of an oil producer. You know, he was part Indian, of indigenous background. Unlike the funny things he did, this aspect of his actions at the U.N. was never even reported.<\/p>\n
So, at one extreme you have indigenous, tribal societies trying to stem the race to disaster. At the other extreme, the richest, most powerful societies in world history, like the United States and Canada, are racing full-speed ahead to destroy the environment as quickly as possible. Unlike Ecuador, and indigenous societies throughout the world, they want to extract every drop of hydrocarbons from the ground with all possible speed. <\/p>\n
Both political parties, President Obama, the media, and the international press seem to be looking forward with great enthusiasm to what they call \u201ca century of energy independence\u201d for the United States. Energy independence is an almost meaningless concept, but put that aside. What they mean is: we\u2019ll have a century in which to maximize the use of fossil fuels and contribute to destroying the world.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s pretty much the case everywhere. Admittedly, when it comes to alternative energy development, Europe is doing something. Meanwhile, the United States, the richest and most powerful country in world history, is the only nation among perhaps 100 relevant ones that doesn\u2019t have a national policy for restricting the use of fossil fuels, that doesn\u2019t even have renewable energy targets. It\u2019s not because the population doesn\u2019t want it. Americans are pretty close to the international norm in their concern about global warming. It\u2019s institutional structures that block change. Business interests don\u2019t want it and they\u2019re overwhelmingly powerful in determining policy, so you get a big gap between opinion and policy on lots of issues, including this one.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s what the future historian \u2014 if there is one \u2014 would see. He might also read today\u2019s scientific journals. Just about every one you open has a more dire prediction than the last.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Most Dangerous Moment in History\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nThe other issue is nuclear war. It\u2019s been known for a long time that if there were to be a first strike by a major power, even with no retaliation, it would probably destroy civilization just because of the nuclear-winter consequences that would follow. You can read about it in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It\u2019s well understood. So the danger has always been a lot worse than we thought it was.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve just passed the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was called \u201cthe most dangerous moment in history\u201d by historian Arthur Schlesinger, President John F. Kennedy\u2019s advisor. Which it was. It was a very close call, and not the only time either. In some ways, however, the worst aspect of these grim events is that the lessons haven\u2019t been learned.<\/p>\n
What happened in the missile crisis in October 1962 has been prettified to make it look as if acts of courage and thoughtfulness abounded. The truth is that the whole episode was almost insane. There was a point, as the missile crisis was reaching its peak, when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote to Kennedy offering to settle it by a public announcement of a withdrawal of Russian missiles from Cuba and U.S. missiles from Turkey. Actually, Kennedy hadn\u2019t even known that the U.S. had missiles in Turkey at the time. They were being withdrawn anyway, because they were being replaced by more lethal Polaris nuclear submarines, which were invulnerable.<\/p>\n
So that was the offer. Kennedy and his advisors considered it \u2014 and rejected it. At the time, Kennedy himself was estimating the likelihood of nuclear war at a third to a half. So Kennedy was willing to accept a very high risk of massive destruction in order to establish the principle that we \u2014 and only we \u2014 have the right to offensive missiles beyond our borders, in fact anywhere we like, no matter what the risk to others \u2014 and to ourselves, if matters fall out of control. We have that right, but no one else does.<\/p>\n
Kennedy did, however, accept a secret agreement to withdraw the missiles the U.S. was already withdrawing, as long as it was never made public. Khrushchev, in other words, had to openly withdraw the Russian missiles while the U.S. secretly withdrew its obsolete ones; that is, Khrushchev had to be humiliated and Kennedy had to maintain his macho image. He\u2019s greatly praised for this: courage and coolness under threat, and so on. The horror of his decisions is not even mentioned \u2014 try to find it on the record.<\/p>\n
And to add a little more, a couple of months before the crisis blew up the United States had sent missiles with nuclear warheads to Okinawa. These were aimed at China during a period of great regional tension.<\/p>\n
Well, who cares? We have the right to do anything we want anywhere in the world. That was one grim lesson from that era, but there were others to come.<\/p>\n
Ten years after that, in 1973, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a high-level nuclear alert. It was his way of warning the Russians not to interfere in the ongoing Israel-Arab war and, in particular, not to interfere after he had informed the Israelis that they could violate a ceasefire the U.S. and Russia had just agreed upon. Fortunately, nothing happened.<\/p>\n
Ten years later, President Ronald Reagan was in office. Soon after he entered the White House, he and his advisors had the Air Force start penetrating Russian air space to try to elicit information about Russian warning systems, Operation Able Archer. Essentially, these were mock attacks. The Russians were uncertain, some high-level officials fearing that this was a step towards a real first strike. Fortunately, they didn\u2019t react, though it was a close call. And it goes on like that.<\/p>\n
What to Make of the Iranian and North Korean Nuclear Crises<\/strong><\/p>\nAt the moment, the nuclear issue is regularly on front pages in the cases of North Korea and Iran. There are ways to deal with these ongoing crises. Maybe they wouldn\u2019t work, but at least you could try. They are, however, not even being considered, not even reported.<\/p>\n
Take the case of Iran, which is considered in the West \u2014 not in the Arab world, not in Asia \u2014 the gravest threat to world peace. It\u2019s a Western obsession, and it\u2019s interesting to look into the reasons for it, but I\u2019ll put that aside here. Is there a way to deal with the supposed gravest threat to world peace? Actually there are quite a few. One way, a pretty sensible one, was proposed a couple of months ago at a meeting of the non-aligned countries in Tehran. In fact, they were just reiterating a proposal that\u2019s been around for decades, pressed particularly by Egypt, and has been approved by the U.N. General Assembly.<\/p>\n
The proposal is to move toward establishing a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region. That wouldn\u2019t be the answer to everything, but it would be a pretty significant step forward. And there were ways to proceed. Under U.N. auspices, there was to be an international conference in Finland last December to try to implement plans to move toward this. What happened? <\/p>\n
You won\u2019t read about it in the newspapers because it wasn\u2019t reported \u2014 only in specialist journals. In early November, Iran agreed to attend the meeting. A couple of days later Obama cancelled the meeting, saying the time wasn\u2019t right. The European Parliament issued a statement calling for it to continue, as did the Arab states. Nothing resulted. So we\u2019ll move toward ever-harsher sanctions against the Iranian population \u2014 it doesn\u2019t hurt the regime \u2014 and maybe war. Who knows what will happen?<\/p>\n
In Northeast Asia, it\u2019s the same sort of thing. North Korea may be the craziest country in the world. It\u2019s certainly a good competitor for that title. But it does make sense to try to figure out what\u2019s in the minds of people when they\u2019re acting in crazy ways. Why would they behave the way they do? Just imagine ourselves in their situation. Imagine what it meant in the Korean War years of the early 1950s for your country to be totally leveled, everything destroyed by a huge superpower, which furthermore was gloating about what it was doing. Imagine the imprint that would leave behind.<\/p>\n
Bear in mind that the North Korean leadership is likely to have read the public military journals of this superpower at that time explaining that, since everything else in North Korea had been destroyed, the air force was sent to destroy North Korea\u2019s dams, huge dams that controlled the water supply \u2014 a war crime, by the way, for which people were hanged in Nuremberg. And these official journals were talking excitedly about how wonderful it was to see the water pouring down, digging out the valleys, and the Asians scurrying around trying to survive. The journals were exulting in what this meant to those \u201cAsians,\u201d horrors beyond our imagination. It meant the destruction of their rice crop, which in turn meant starvation and death. How magnificent! It\u2019s not in our memory, but it\u2019s in their memory.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s turn to the present. There\u2019s an interesting recent history. In 1993, Israel and North Korea were moving towards an agreement in which North Korea would stop sending any missiles or military technology to the Middle East and Israel would recognize that country. President Clinton intervened and blocked it. Shortly after that, in retaliation, North Korea carried out a minor missile test. The U.S. and North Korea did then reach a framework agreement in 1994 that halted its nuclear work and was more or less honored by both sides. When George W. Bush came into office, North Korea had maybe one nuclear weapon and verifiably wasn\u2019t producing any more. <\/p>\n
Bush immediately launched his aggressive militarism, threatening North Korea \u2014 \u201caxis of evil\u201d and all that \u2014 so North Korea got back to work on its nuclear program. By the time Bush left office, they had eight to 10 nuclear weapons and a missile system, another great neocon achievement. In between, other things happened. In 2005, the U.S. and North Korea actually reached an agreement in which North Korea was to end all nuclear weapons and missile development. In return, the West, but mainly the United States, was to provide a light-water reactor for its medical needs and end aggressive statements. They would then form a nonaggression pact and move toward accommodation.<\/p>\n
It was pretty promising, but almost immediately Bush undermined it. He withdrew the offer of the light-water reactor and initiated programs to compel banks to stop handling any North Korean transactions, even perfectly legal ones. The North Koreans reacted by reviving their nuclear weapons program. And that\u2019s the way it\u2019s been going.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s well known. You can read it in straight, mainstream American scholarship. What they say is: it\u2019s a pretty crazy regime, but it\u2019s also following a kind of tit-for-tat policy. You make a hostile gesture and we\u2019ll respond with some crazy gesture of our own. You make an accommodating gesture and we\u2019ll reciprocate in some way.<\/p>\n
Lately, for instance, there have been South Korean-U.S. military exercises on the Korean peninsula which, from the North\u2019s point of view, have got to look threatening. We\u2019d think they were threatening if they were going on in Canada and aimed at us. In the course of these, the most advanced bombers in history, Stealth B-2s and B-52s, are carrying out simulated nuclear bombing attacks right on North Korea\u2019s borders. <\/p>\n
This surely sets off alarm bells from the past. They remember that past, so they\u2019re reacting in a very aggressive, extreme way. Well, what comes to the West from all this is how crazy and how awful the North Korean leaders are. Yes, they are. But that\u2019s hardly the whole story, and this is the way the world is going.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that there are no alternatives. The alternatives just aren\u2019t being taken. That\u2019s dangerous. So if you ask what the world is going to look like, it\u2019s not a pretty picture. Unless people do something about it. We always can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: Are We on the Verge of Total Self-Destruction? by Noam Chomsky. The Text: For the first time in the history of the human species, we have clearly developed the capacity to destroy ourselves. What is the future likely to bring? A reasonable stance might be to try to look at the human species […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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