A Philosophy of War and Conflict

[Leonardo17]

GrandNudger:
 
- Hitting Russian oil refineries also amount to war crimes. But I believe this is a line that can be crossed when Russia is using its most sophisticated high-tech missiles to hit Ukrainian Condos. That grain on the other hand is going to the Arab world, to Africa or even to Asia. I must remind you that the Russian were kind enough at the beginning of this conflict to let the Ukrainian grain flow to the rest of the world. So in a 21st century kind of conflict, is it too much to expect Zelensky to do the same?
 
Belaqua:
 
- No. I was one of those lucky kids in which differences actually made kids more interesting to their peers. In place where I grew up it was considered “cool” for instance to have a friend with typical Asian characteristics or to be picked up from school with an American-built automobile (I’m talking about the 1980’s)
 
But yes. I had those less lucky friends, from highly conservative families, in highly conservative schools, where the exact things you said made them more violent. Once grown up (nowadays I suppose) these kids get psychological issues or they are turned into foot soldiers. They may be engineers, doctors, teachers, public workers, even people who live abroad, being raised accordingly with these “conformity” issues, even in their 40’s they are still part of the brotherhood and need to act accordingly with these rules of conformity.
 
So no: What you say might have been partly true for baby boomers but our generation was already too individualistic and free.
 

“Here I think we have to be a little bit careful. Both of the books you mention were written long after the Samurai had lost their powers as a hereditary warrior class. The Samurai were converted to clerks and other less glamorous government functionaries. Inazo Nitobe wrote Bushido in English while living in America. It was first published in Philadelphia. So they may offer an attractive code for warriors, but they are a little like 19th century historical novelists writing about King Arthur's court. There's a lot of romanticizing going on.”

 
I don’t know much about these too. But Morihei Ueshiba (the founder of Aikido) who lived in the 20th century spent most of his life in Japan. It is true that Inazo nitobe was more of a scholar than a Samurai himself. And yamamoto Tsunemoto was actually a Samurai who lived in the late 1600 early 1700’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamamoto_Tsunetomo

   What matters here is that there is a “code”. Even the street bullies of the second part of the last century have some sort of codes with one another. They used to call this the “Radjon” (the unwritten rule than a bully has to follow otherwise he won’t be respected by anyone including the other bullies).
 
And this is to conclude that in any conflict situation you cannot have a “I will do anything to harm them” attitude. Because this is pure savagery not a way of carrying out conflict with the intention of reaching a desired outcome (like most humans do).
 
On Zionism:
 
- Maybe the current state of Zionism is a mixture of colonialism and religious extremism that is set to take us strait to WWIII. None of us will be able to know this until we see how the whole thing ends.
 
The problem for modern Zionism is that it lacks all forms of empathy. This type of lack of empathy is typical of religious fanatizm. And based on my basic knowledge of Judeo-Christian values I can add that this is not a very spiritual approach either.
 
See: Look at these Christian families in Lebanon who welcomed Shiite, Christian and other Muslim families into their homes when these had to flee the recent İsraeli incursion in southern Lebanon. So which one is it? Is there one set of Judeo-Christian values or are there several one of them?
 
DEsse23:
 
- You are right. Humanity has just come out of an age of ignorance and the Second age (or energy age) has just begun. I am feeling exactly as you do when I see that all the West Coast is now reachin above 100 degree temperatures and the President of the US is still calling Climate Change a “Socialist Hoax”
 
Belaqua:
 

“Nice photos today of Zelensky and Netanyahu smiling at each other in Washington.
 
Ukraine fired on an Iranian ship recently, so it's possible that Zelensky's masters are encouraging him to merge the two wars. I don't think it's wise for him to take on both Russia and Iran at the same time, but the whole plan isn't about doing what's best for Ukraine.”

 
- Again: that’s a legitimate target. Why Ukraine wouldn’t hit military ships circulating between Iran and Russia?