by Sue DeGregorio-Rosen, RN, CLNC, Contributing Editor
“War is not so much a matter of arms as of money.” Thucydides, History. Bk, I, ch. 83, (C.400 B.C.E.)
“War is the greatest plague that can afflict mankind…any scourge is preferable to it.” Martin Luther, Table Talk No. 829, (1569)
“Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.” John Milton, Paradise Lost. Bk. xi, I. 780. (1667)
War and the resulting carnage serve no purpose. How much can be made off the death of another human being? Or better yet, how much is another human being worth to you?
In 1942, during World War II, a significant part of the Rockefeller empire was shipping fuel to Nazi Germany through Switzerland. Chase Bank of America gave millions of dollars’ worth of business right after Pearl Harbor with full knowledge of the Rockefeller family and meanwhile Ford was building trucks for the Nazi/German occupation France that was authorized from Dearborn, MI. Meanwhile, inflation and lines at our own gas stations were in full blown duress. War is a complicated business. That was then and this is now, the list goes on and on, and I believe we have come to a time in our lives where we understand that we, the USA, not only feeds into these wars, we, help ignite them, inadvertently at times when we pay more attention to the costs and the effects on our financial accounts than human life. We know, better yet we continue to turn a seemingly blind eye to the realities of human welfare and poe physical and spiritual our environment. We allow it to happen. It makes one wonder what really happened on 9/11. I only saw the damage and the heroics after.
It makes us question a pandemic that can be blamed for a multitude of reasons. How much profit is threaded through the fabric of disease and its cure? How many lives were stripped away by Purdue Pharmaceuticals? Do we even really know?
We live in a world which we try to make safe while our corporate profit-driven politicians are seduced by money and position over policy and human welfare. Inflation? John Kenneth Galbraith, the economist once observed, “Nothing so weakens government as persistent inflation.” Fuel prices continue to rise and oil corporation executives’ salaries rise even higher. What is the role of OPEC while trillions of dollars are traded for our peace? One would have to live in an enclosed box to not realize that all these arrangements are known in Washington and elsewhere and sanctioned and/or deliberately ignored.
We watched as the forty-fifth president rubbed shoulders during his presidency with the likes of Vladimir Putin, looking to cause a disturbance within the Ukraine for his opposition, President Biden. He also distanced himself from NATO and Putin at the time had no reason to invade Ukraine. He had his assets in Washington, DC. From my New York City perspective with an intimate understanding of parochialism and financial abuse, the idea was/is to create division for the sake of control in the greater sense. What will a “leader” do for the sake of money and control? Who stands to gain the most by individual and public debt?
War, what is it good for? The song says,” absolutely nothing”. We know what it’s good for. War makes money. War for some suggests the rationalization of creating new and better technologies and medicines. War leads to chaos, bitterness, and division. Who really wins?
Who do we turn to if we don’t trust one party such as the Republicans that vomit disinformation daily? Do we see the wealthy elitists paying their fair share in taxes or supporting what could possibly help decrease the economic crisis that affects the middle class and the poor?
No sane person wants to attempt to live through a nuclear war. Moving to New Zealand is not an answer, it will not protect anyone. Everything we do to our environment from disinformation to greed to biological and chemical weapons desensitizes us and affects all humanity whether in a city, desert, mountain top or jungle. There is no escape even for the richest. There’s only one Earth. When will we agree that we need to restructure our isms and truly seek equality for all in a divided and unequal world? Is it too late?
A nation built on greed is not a nation. It’s a distraction.
“War……..what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.” #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970 and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded….