Just woken up for some unknown reason and saw this news on my phone.
Terrible obviously for all the innocents in the region.
But with this conflict and the Ukraine situation it strikes me that the "theatre of war" has never been so apt.
It seems so bizarre to see all the real time coverage, all the posturing, to-ing and fro-ing, the shuffling of weapons and aid by the super powers - and all to what end precisely?
The ideologies behind the conflict are entrenched and regardless of escalation there can be no resolution or winner's.
It reminds me of 1984 - (sic) "we had always been at war with Eurasia".
In the meantime disaster capitalism thrives, those in the arms trade get richer, the world economy destabilises further and innocents on all sides are just collateral damage.
I just don't see an end game. Or a point.
In my supremely naive head, I wonder why military operatives on all sides don't just down tools and say "Sod this" but of course the vulnerable do need protecting so I suppose on principle that wouldn't stop the carnage.
I watched a couple of interesting documentaries on Al Jazeera called "Praying for Armageddon" which examined the entrenched fundamental Christian views of some in the US who have power and apparently have the ears of the government. Some people in power are apparently actually driven by the idea of a Holy War to bring back Christ.
In this day and age I'm baffled. Of course religion and power have always been bedfellows, and use the leverage of fear of the unknown to polarise and subjugate people, but honestly, it's nuts.
On a wider scale, the drip of instability and insecurity causes world wide geopolitical and economic consequences and it's like psychological torture. Division escalates, suspicion etc etc. We who are not directly affected by physical conflict have no choice but to keep calm and carry on, controlling the precious little we can in our own lives.
And then I wonder - is the goal to get everyone to a point where we would accept any regime or solution in order to ease the uncertainty. And at what cost would that be?
Sorry for the long rant but since I was widowed, my only outlet for this kind of musing is my cat. I can tell he's interested, but his capacity to engage in debate is limited. So Mumsnet is my fall back.
All I can do I suppose is keep hoping that someone in power will see sense, because the slaughter of innocents on any side is so abhorrent.
To those with loved ones in the affected regions, I'm just so sorry and angry for you all. It shouldn't be like this. And I hope they are safe.