The Feld-Blog

It has been so long since someone went out and sacked a city the old fashioned way - burning it to the ground and killing every last man, woman and child. In ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire (actually a very different and entirely non-Roman Empire), the Crusades, we saw murder and mayhem and destruction on a grand scheme even without weapons of mass destruction. In modern times countries can usually come to terms with one another, finding a mutually acceptable terms of surrender in which both countries get to survive. Sometimes, when its really difficult, 2 countries form out of just one, such as North and South Korea or Czech and Slovokia. I thought maybe this world was heading for a more pacific method of working out differences until the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran opened his mouth. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.

While it is a little bit comforting that Israel, the US, the UN, the EU, and even the PA, I think, jumped in without hesitation to condemn the remarks, it is more than a little bit concerning that Iran is still a recognized member of the UN even after a history of similar remarks and sentiments. It is even more disconcertin that there are still rulers in the world who subscribe to the kill-every-last-man-woman-and-child form of war.

I hate war. That said, sometimes I can understand why countries go to war, especially as a last resort. If another country assassinated one of your heads of state that could be justification for war. If a country repeatedly breaks the terms of a previous treaty or contract that could be cause for war. I just don’t feel that a moral objection to a countries existence is a good reason to go to war. America objected to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Still, we didn’t call for the complete destruction of Iraq, Bush called for a vindication of Iraqi citizens and a toppling of the regime rather than desolation of the country itself. I don’t agree with the war in Iraq, but I still think this is a nobler cause for war than a moral objection to your neighbor’s mere existence.

I would like to think that humanity has progressed a little bit since the times of ancient Greece. Since then we have invented the chariot, the horse and carriage, the steam locomotive, the automobile and the Prius hybrid. With all that technological progress don’t you think we could have tried to progress socially and intellectually as well?