The Problematic Future with Vengeful Gods

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With all the chest pounding and usual White House hyperbole, one would think the world is a safer place.

It is not. It is just the opposite. The bombing of Iran by the United States has unleashed a complex set of possible outcomes in a complex and problem ridden part of the world. While it cannot be known at this point in time which outcome or outcomes will result, certain things can be said to be highly probable.

There is no question that Iran has been weakened, but it has not been defeated. Nor have the thousands of terrorists lying in wait in every country of the world given up their jihad against the deeply despised great Satan of the West and its little brother in the heart of the Middle East. This very real stateless diaspora has been enlivened and emboldened. Everywhere Americans (and westerners by association) will be looking over their shoulders for the next attack, and more often than not, they will not see it coming.

In his brief speech to the nation, Donald Trump thanked God. This is beyond the pale as a sanctimonious pronouncement. Trump's God is evidently vengeful and firmly on the side of the United States and Israel.  Muslims, a close second in population to Christians, may have another perspective. While the Quran encourages forgiveness, it also sanctions the right to retaliate where physical harm has been employed by "aggressors"  (https://quran.com/42:40/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) Certain segments of the Muslim faith may, and will, take this precept to the extreme.

More importantly, the duplicity, hypocrisy and inconsistency of the Trump administration is once and for all laid bare for all the world to see. The bold assertions that all wars will be avoided or settled with negotiation has been revealed as a fabricated illusion designed for re-election.

Peace in the Middle-East - and in the rest of the world - is now buried in the rubble of continued and state justified wars.

Canada must do two things in the midst of America's domestic and geo-political distractions:

1. Quadruple the effort to re-build its defense and security in cooperation with like-minded allies and distance itself as best as it can from the United States; and

2. Regain its role as a middle power for diplomacy where it is merited.

One would hope that there is still a role for diplomacy in this terribly fractured world.


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