Herd Ignorance.... blind driven towards destructive war

Will the current geopolitical developments be temporarily (forgotten and forgiven), a permanent change towards a new geopolitical decoupling mode or is it an omen for an actual destructive global war in preparation ?

Below war rhetoric speech by a US sergeant last year amid the trade war is trending among other similar posts immensely in Chinese social media these weeks. And we can all expect the rhetoric level has definitely not decreased these days.

Part of a speech by American military staff sergeant David Bellavia during his Medal of Honor award 10 months ago on June 26 last year (2019) amid the trade war.

“This entire military is one cohesive, dedicated force; and the threats to our nations, they don't sleep. They're watching our every move -- Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, ISIS, Al-Qaeda. They may be watching this right now.

We've seen war. We don't want war. But if you want war with the United States of America, there's one thing I can promise you, so help me God: Someone else will raise your sons and daughters.”

Not only this movie but other recent citations and rhetoric by US politicians and military staff related to war and other threats with China are trending in Chinese social media. 

Some things need to be spoken out loud; yes war is becoming a real possibility in the near future looking at today’s signs on the wall.

The cold war is heating up fast, especially between China and the USA but also other nations are heating up. Huawei charges, economic blacklists, China virus blames, the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” by US congress, and this week another major bill passed in congress, the “Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA)”. The new act is enabling to ban Chinese companies from the US market and effortly beyond. The US commerce department has also added 33 Chinese companies and other institutions to the economic blacklist for human rights violations and to address U.S. national security concerns involving weapons of mass destruction and other military activities.

China has announced this week the proposal of a new expanded Hong Kong National Security and Anti-Sedition law after many months of violence and unrest in the city. The country has as well taken measures to prevent specific high-tech foreign technology and equipment operational in government-related authorities. Furthermore speeding up the development and production of missing high-tech availability in domestic market.

Most people and media talk endlessly about the first two perspectives; "either going back and all is forgotten and forgiven" or "diving into a new mode of decoupling". But it is fearfully avoided to talk about the third reality; WORLD WAR.

When we look at similar historical crash roads in the past, we better open our eyes today and start facing and dealing with this angle by talking together and genuine efforts of collaboration. War will be a real chance of reality for more than one reason today; reasons of today's political and economical environments and status are dominantly prevailing over the reason of humanity which would not accept any war.

The economic crises after controlling the pandemic to some extents will be devastating for most countries around the world. This together with potentially changing political environments in some major countries around the world, these are perfect recipes for growing instability and much worse as we have seen in history.

While the USA is gearing up; don’t be mistaken that China is just waiting, the country is calling for international collaboration but at the same time bracing and preparing themselves for the worse in realistic economic and political threats from different parts of the world and a possible upcoming isolation being separated from a large part of the world.

Don’t be shocked as well about the fact that an actual decoupling from Chinese side will move faster and happen sooner than you can imagine for protecting themselves and their lands, and be as much as possible prepared for self-sustainability as society.

The current decoupling trend shown today especially from the USA might suddenly turn around in the near future when China will swiftly close their doors, economically, commercially and geopolitically in relation to many countries. The chance for this turn-around is not all about economics and trade but about continuous political rhetoric, stigmatization and threats with regard to China.

We have seen amazingly swift actions in China during the past months with the coronavirus pandemic, do not underestimate a disruptive decision of isolation by China within a blink of an eye when the balance between the possibilities for a new global collaboration in co-existence and on the other hand polarization and stigmatization is turning sour.

Chinese isolation and drastic decoupling would certainly disrupt and influence China but it would be an unparalleled disruption for the rest of the world as well, much more than the corona virus could ever achieve; economically, socially and politically.

The corona virus has just been a ‘small’ trigger to speed up the drive towards the inevitable crossroad for global humanity clearly to be seen at the horizon. A crossroad either going into the all-destructive war direction or going towards into the direction of huge adaptation, change and sacrifice for humanity in which people and nations worldwide are forced to find new levels of respectful collaboration in co-existence; being collectively responsible for the future of the world. 

These are the two choices, there is no way going back to the ‘old normal’ and people should start talking today about the possibility of war instead of being a herd of sheep blindly driven by shepherd dogs who bark the loudest. Today’s trends of separation, stigmatization and decoupling certainly increases the chance of turning towards the WRONG direction at the crossroad

We need ‘reboot humanity’ as a global people's community by huge adaptations, each and any one of us taking genuine responsibility in a new global collaboration in co-existence. The responsibilities include respect, solidarity and duty to tackle the hot debacles in today’s geopolitics and societies such as environmental degradation, economic disparities or the role of high-tech in the world. All of these responsibilities require as well much more disruption, adaptation and sacrifice in today's world than COVID19 will ever ask.

Many people might comment that this cry out is a somehow exaggerated. Looking at similar events in world history, I would call it better be safe than sorry and be smart enough to include this option and start tackling it as humanity. A world in fire is usually caused by only one spark from a match. And there are many dangerous matches being sparked every day during this turbulent, unprecedented time.

We are not talking here about rights and wrongs, past or present, or east and west; we are talking here about the move towards separation by focusing on differences and decouplings versus the move towards global collaboration by focusing on common grounds and responsibilities. At the moment there is hardly any substantial direct communication between world leaders despite the huge challenges in humanity, drifting apart while the opposite is more needed then ever. A true pandemic...

And the true pandemic is not the corona virus but about the dangerous geopolitical pandemic in decoupling, stigmatization and separation with potential horror endings...... please wake up today... !

Beijing May 24, 2020

杜墨 Gordon Dumoulin

REBOOT Humanity | Critical update 2020 (RHC) is a think tank initiative aiming to raise questions and considerations from a pure humanity perspective. Independent from currently embedded systems, processes, cultures or politics, RHC is looking into the human intelligence software which is all about economic and social processes, cross-cultural competences and the role and compatibility of humanity in relation to the hardware; among others the environment and technology. 

Recent developments in past decades such as environmental degradation and economic and social tensions with even more recently the effects of the coronavirus pandemic impact on humanity is raising the need for a reboot and critical updates of the software running humanity.