(My next subsection will center around the lecture synopsis (under the title: Global Security: Prerequisites and Practicality), which I offered back in September 2006 as one of my two choices for lecture/seminar to the organizers of the GSS, Global Security Seminar in Los Angeles, which I was then attending. This summary was written for the sake of being written, and I did not actually expect it to be presented as a lecture, although, had this happened, it would have been a terrific lecture! As I expected, my alternative offer was accepted, and in December 2006, on the heels of my controversial Baltimore Sun article on the perils of conventionalization of strategic delivery systems, I was the GSS speaker with the intriguing title: Russia: the Misplaced Key to a Stable World.)
The Preamble. Presenting my lecture synopsis in this oddly unconventional form, I am not indulging some secret urge for non-conformity, at least not without a perfectly sensible rationale. The form I have chosen is the best way for me to convey not only the content, but also the flavor of this presentation. After all, this is not a solemn point-by-point condensation of a scholarly thesis, but, as I see it, an engaging introduction to a meaningful sharing experience. Let us have an important conversation, whose time is long past due!
Of Best-Laid Plans, And My Twopence. They say, rather uncharitably, that the road to hell is littered with good intentions. The last century has indeed made a mockery out of man’s search for a formula to bring in a lasting peace. Enlightened thinking, the miracles of science, the labor-emancipating technologies, nothing seems to have worked. On the contrary, human progress has apparently found its highest expression in an out-and-out global arms race, in which even the poorest nations see better, that is, deadlier, weapons as the ultimate status symbol, the topmost criterion of national prestige.
There was a hope for a while, maybe it is still lingering in some minds, that in this nuclear age, the threat of Mutual Assured Destruction, introducing the fear of certain death into the equation, the realization that wars have become unwinnable, should be powerful enough to contain, or even paralyze, the Martial spirit, thus bringing a permanent Peace-through-Fear to the greater nations of the earth, who, in turn, would restrain the lesser, non-nuclear nations from engaging in smaller wars.
There is a certain logic there, but alas, human affairs are not susceptible to logic. Looking around us today, we see glaring madness, reckless folly, cunning agitation and bare propaganda, but little common sense. Introducing wisdom into international relations is a daunting task, but, being a sine qua non prerequisite of global security, this task has to be performed. I will be dwelling on this point at some length in this lecture, later on.
My treatment of Global Security is a pensive Commentary, rather than a systematic exposition, a call for action, rather than a plan of action. General theories have the tendency to be debunked. Perhaps, they pay too much attention to the regular cards, forgetting that every deck has at least a couple of jokers, and those are tricky fellows. The world may not be ready for treatment yet: we need to improve the process of triage. My present effort goes in that direction.
(…A lot of wishful thinking in the paragraphs above, and probably worth less than the twopence declared in their title. But there is an interesting sober point made there, concerning the possibility that after all, the mischievous nuclear genie let out of the bottle through the failure to enforce non-proliferation, can actually help the world by making impossible not only wars between the nuclear powers, but also any acts of aggression perpetrated by the stronger nations against the weaker ones. Peace through fear sounds sort of tacky, but if that works, and peace does indeed come through that back alley door, we might think about an eventual moral revaluation of the unpleasant Machiavellian phrase “the end justifies the means.”)
…To be continued in my next posting tomorrow…
The Preamble. Presenting my lecture synopsis in this oddly unconventional form, I am not indulging some secret urge for non-conformity, at least not without a perfectly sensible rationale. The form I have chosen is the best way for me to convey not only the content, but also the flavor of this presentation. After all, this is not a solemn point-by-point condensation of a scholarly thesis, but, as I see it, an engaging introduction to a meaningful sharing experience. Let us have an important conversation, whose time is long past due!
Of Best-Laid Plans, And My Twopence. They say, rather uncharitably, that the road to hell is littered with good intentions. The last century has indeed made a mockery out of man’s search for a formula to bring in a lasting peace. Enlightened thinking, the miracles of science, the labor-emancipating technologies, nothing seems to have worked. On the contrary, human progress has apparently found its highest expression in an out-and-out global arms race, in which even the poorest nations see better, that is, deadlier, weapons as the ultimate status symbol, the topmost criterion of national prestige.
There was a hope for a while, maybe it is still lingering in some minds, that in this nuclear age, the threat of Mutual Assured Destruction, introducing the fear of certain death into the equation, the realization that wars have become unwinnable, should be powerful enough to contain, or even paralyze, the Martial spirit, thus bringing a permanent Peace-through-Fear to the greater nations of the earth, who, in turn, would restrain the lesser, non-nuclear nations from engaging in smaller wars.
There is a certain logic there, but alas, human affairs are not susceptible to logic. Looking around us today, we see glaring madness, reckless folly, cunning agitation and bare propaganda, but little common sense. Introducing wisdom into international relations is a daunting task, but, being a sine qua non prerequisite of global security, this task has to be performed. I will be dwelling on this point at some length in this lecture, later on.
My treatment of Global Security is a pensive Commentary, rather than a systematic exposition, a call for action, rather than a plan of action. General theories have the tendency to be debunked. Perhaps, they pay too much attention to the regular cards, forgetting that every deck has at least a couple of jokers, and those are tricky fellows. The world may not be ready for treatment yet: we need to improve the process of triage. My present effort goes in that direction.
(…A lot of wishful thinking in the paragraphs above, and probably worth less than the twopence declared in their title. But there is an interesting sober point made there, concerning the possibility that after all, the mischievous nuclear genie let out of the bottle through the failure to enforce non-proliferation, can actually help the world by making impossible not only wars between the nuclear powers, but also any acts of aggression perpetrated by the stronger nations against the weaker ones. Peace through fear sounds sort of tacky, but if that works, and peace does indeed come through that back alley door, we might think about an eventual moral revaluation of the unpleasant Machiavellian phrase “the end justifies the means.”)
…To be continued in my next posting tomorrow…
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