TROM

2022-03-06 14:38:27

The role of trade in war

Some may argue that trade is a great tool for deescalating big conflicts like it is the case in Ukraine. Lots of tribes are imposing trading sanctions to Russia in order to make Russia stop the aggression towards Ukraine and end the war. So far it has not stopped the aggression but hopefully it will.

So, is trade, in the end, a good tool to keep war at bay?

Well, one has to wonder why has Russia been able to be aggressive with Ukraine in the first place. They have a huge army, but Europe also depends on them trade-wise. Quite a lot in terms on energy supply. So one can definitely argue that Russia used trade as a way to grow its aggression because it knew that Europe fears to intervene since they will lose in the game of trade if they did. Russia may as well have used (and they did use) trade as a way to gain aggression towards Ukraine for the past 8 or so years. Europe only intervened when it got threatened.

If anything trade allows for dictators to raise to power and maintain it. To abuse others and to enslave their own. And yes, at times trade can be used to minimize or stop the conflict, but the conflict may have been caused by trade itself. Like India seems to be very quiet and reluctant to accuse Russia's actions. They also import some 50% of their total armament from Russia for the past 4 or so years (source). So it is likely that trade makes a massive tribe like India do what Europe did in the beginning of the conflict: abstain. And since the conflict doesn't pose a threat to India, they keep on abstaining.

One can also argue that USA also has a lot to gain from going against Russia with the sanctions, since USA can take over the energy market in Europe if Russia gets kicked out.

Imagine this: if Europe had no trade agreements with Russia, then why would Europe let this situation escalate so much before taking some measures? They would probably have helped Ukraine much sooner with all kinds of assistance, military or humanitarian.

So keep these in mind, because the situation is never as black and white as it appears in the media.

If the Russian soldiers were not forced to trade their freedom (go to the army then to war, else you go to jail) then who would have wanted to join the army and go kill others? A lot less for sure. Maybe no one would.

If Russians (and not only) had their basic needs met as trade-free, so food, shelter, healthcare, freedom and so forth, then they could have had a choice and not join the military. But then you threaten them to get their food, shelter and freedom away if they do not join, so they have little to no choice.

But the bottom line is that trade is the origin of MOST problems, not all problems. So even if trade played no negative role in the current conflict, and can be used to avoid a WW3, then it still does not chnage the fact that trade pushes people to enslave, pollute, destroy, and so forth. On a global scale.

Also, what if instead of Europe and USA and others pumping weapons of mass destruction into Ukraine and into defending themselves, attacked the situation with solutions and built more homes, created more food, better energy sources, and so forth, so that they lure in people from Russia to join them, rather than kill them. To come and have a good life, without trading anything in return. To focus on informing people that we are all one species and we are taking care of each other. But perhaps those who trade weapons have a great incentive to lure in politicians into spending more on weapons and sending them to the conflict zone....

So, you want to end this war? Give all Russians free EU membership/access and trade-free access to accommodation, healthcare, food and their basic needs, and perhaps they will drop their weapons because why would they want to fight anymore?

It is true that all sorts of distorted values come into mix when such conflicts are happening, but they usually are a mere layer of sugar on top of a big cake, and the cake is the trade based system we live in. And whatever is on top of it, it is affected by it. That we should not brush aside.

#tromlive

Sasha

2022-03-02 13:55:40

New blog:
https://www.bigworldsmallsasha.com/2022/03/02/do-you-know-where-you-come-from/

There’s an extraordinary fact about Earthlings- and all Earth things- that I suspect many people are not aware of.

It’s a story- an incredible story that we, humans, have discovered fairly recently. A story about you, and me, every Russian and Ukrainian, every Mexican, and every Lithuanian.

It’s a story that should connect us all, making us feel both large and extra small.

The story:

Once upon a time, there was a bang− a big bang. From this, a universe was born. At first, the universe was unimaginably hot, dense, and small. It was much smaller, in fact, than the tip of your smallest fingernail. But it expanded rapidly, and then it cooled. And as it cooled, it created something incredible: the first atom− hydrogen. Made of just one proton and one electron.

With time, giant clouds of early atoms coalesced through gravity and formed something extraordinary: stars.

Inside these stars, there was an incredible amount of heat and density, so much that it caused the hydrogen atoms to fuse together and create a different element: helium, which has two protons. Then, as the star became even hotter and even denser, it caused helium atoms to fuse together and create yet another element: carbon (with six protons), and then oxygen (with eight protons). Eventually, the star began to run out of fuel and collapse in on itself. As it collapsed, it created an even hotter, denser environment which caused carbon atoms to fuse together and form bigger, heavier elements; then bigger, heavier elements fused together to form even heavier elements; until eventually, the star created iron− and then it exploded. As it exploded, it created even more heavy elements − and then, it seeded the universe with all the ingredients it needed for new suns, planets, moons, oceans, mountains, and life.

That is where we truly come from − the elements of our bodies were crafted in the center of dying stars. In this sense, Earth and everything on it truly is star dust. And we, humans, are recycled Earth stuff.

About 4.5 billion years ago, elements −which came from the cores of stars− coalesced and formed our planet. As they merged, they mingled, assembled and reacted with each other, dancing a dance that we call chemistry.

Then, perhaps half a billion years later, another extraordinary event happened− chemistry transformed into biology. Bundles of atoms that were once lifeless now began to store information and replicate themselves. We don’t know exactly how life arose, but we do know that it began with tiny simple organisms. These organisms were able to undergo changes in little bits of their stored information, and pass on those changes to future generations. As billions of years passed, the organisms evolved, they became more and more complex, and more diverse. And eventually, one of those species of organisms evolved into thinking beings. Beings that could gaze up at the stars, the moon and the sun, and wonder, ponder and investigate their presence. That being is you.

You are the universe pondering about its own existence.

–

Isn’t it mind-boggling that every human has the capacity to understand this story, yet most pay no attention to it? Instead, they listen to the stories of business people, “countries,” and psychotic politicians. Instead of working together to discover the cosmos, and solve global problems (like climate change, poverty, and so many others)− humans divide themselves, marking the Earth with imaginary lines, fighting for territories and wasting their minds. They build weapons of mass destruction− powerful enough to bring their own selves to extinction. And they fight, they wage war, and they kill their own kind.

What a shame.

What a waste.

What a failure.

What are we doing, humans, really?

Do You Know Where You Come From?

Do You Know Where You Come From?

            There’s an extraordinary fact about Earthlings- and all Earth things- that I suspect many people are not aware of.             It’s a story- an incredible story that we, humans, have discovered fairly recently.

^{Big World | Small Sasha}

TROM

2022-03-02 13:21:02

The Double Standard

In 2003 the USA with a few friends like UK, Australia and Poland decided to invade Iraq. Their reason for the invasion was that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It was not true and they kinda knew that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_the_Iraq_War

Some 1 million people have died in that war. And USA&Friends committed so called "war crimes" too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_post-invasion_Iraq - although war should be the crime itself.

The USA and its friends were not punished. No sanctions, nothing. Today Russia seems to engage in exactly the same manner. They are severely punished.

The history is full of such crimes conducted by tribes.

This goes to show the "double-standard" of our world. On top of this, we shall not forget that crimes and atrocities do not only happen in wars, but everywhere else. Slavery and coercion, draconian laws, the utter destruction of the biodiversity on Earth, the forever-chemicals, the plastic, the pollution. The hunger and starvation, the inability to access medical care unless you have some imaginary papers. All of that.

Where is the world united against these atrocities?

For sure, we need to act quickly to immediate threads like it is the case with Russia. But we need a reminder about how this world truly is.

This is a recent photo from the current war in Ukraine. This is what Russia is doing. This is the brutality and reality of war. Take a deep look. Everyone should be exposed to these events via such direct means, not just numbers and statistics. But the reality of it:

If the world thinks that severely punishing Russia for these atrocities is a necessary, good and united act, then we should do the same for any such acts, performed by any other tribe. And we should do the same for the other atrocities too. Else this is hypocrisy.

So let's see when they are going after the billionaires, the companies that create so much suffering, the profit motive itself; hell, go after trade and eliminate the need for it. Let's see...

#tromlive

TROM

2022-02-28 22:59:20

Attack the world with solutions

Do not forget that there is no democracy out there. No matter if it is USA, EU, Russia, they are all as far from democracy as Andromeda galaxy is from us. Humans "elect" a few others, in questionable ways, and then the few others take whatever decisions they want.

Have Russian creatures voted for this war? Was it a democratic decision? How about the American creatures, did they vote to go to Iraq or Vietnam and massacre those people? None voted.

Democracy is a myth, a ridiculous idea that has nothing to do with how anything is organized on this planet, or should be organized perhaps. Profit, birthed by trade, is a lot more of an influencer than anything else.

And so, if you get angry at Russia, do not forget that are not the Russians attacking anyone, but a handful of powerful people. Also do not forget that USA, EU, and the rest of the world, share the same bloody hands, but yet again it is not the people, but a handful few.

We cannot resolve conflict with conflict in the long run. Sure, it may be necessary to act aggressively if you are attacked, in order to protect yourself, but if there is no plan, no understanding, no approach at how to prevent such situations, your solution is momentary at best.

We need weapons of mass-helping rather than mass-killing. So that we create a global society of humans, who have free time to educate themselves, think, learn, create relationships, research, be creative, help each other. The only way out, long term, is to attack the world with solutions. To move beyond this mass-trading society. To free men from trade. To free the world from its effects.

War is not about who is right, but about who is left.

#tromlive