Nuclear War? (Emailed in Autumn 2004)

I like the way you put that. It also seems to be true.

I think it is very significant that the lands where humanity is said to have originated are engulfed by both conflict and promise. Things can truly go either way.

It is a beautiful story, in the sense that things may end where they begun... or of course blossom anew with emerging technologies.

I am suspecting that Iran may play a decisive role, and how that country is handled. After the Iraq debacle nations are loath to join a coalition against any particular state. Yet Iran seems to be developing nuclear weapons, which they could well discretely pass onto terrorists for them to use. Iran is a most isolated country- a Shiite nation of Persian stock surrounded by Sunni Arabs. Their natural friend may well be the West in such a case, yet they are overflowing with anti-Western vitriol, and viewed with deep suspicion. To complicate matters, there are also the beginnings of democracy there, along with an articulate president, though probably not an honest or straightforward one.

It is a very delicate situation.

I am assuming they are involved with elements of the resistance and kidnappers in Iraq. This would mean that they have moved from seeking sympathy, to making threats and blackmails. Could this grow into a nuclear blackmail? 'Do what we want or we set off the bomb'- another movie plot in our real world? Factor in also the continued development of missiles, and unprecedentedly large underground complexes, and we can see just what is possible.

I am left wondering at the inherent cruelty, in the kindness of granting us nuclear technology. On the one hand, it may be the only thing that could give us energy whilst staving off the effects of burning fossil fuels. Also, it can make conventional war redundant, and provides the ultimate deterrent. Yet should common sense and a sense of decency fail, it will surely be our undoing and time to start again.

One 'positive' note regarding this- the areas around Chernobyl are apparently as abundant with life as any nature reserve, with no more mutation than normal. Animals and plants seem to live with levels of radiation far higher than humans can bear- which came as a surprise to many scientists. There will probably be no 'nuclear wasteland'- just impassable zones, in which nature is in fact recuperating from humanity's previous expansion. The one species with no natural enemy- other than themselves. Should they require an enemy!

We cannot speak of nuclear war. We can only speak of nuclear destruction.

On a lighter note, I managed to take part in an interview with a very intelligent and ancient space-being, telepathically, a couple of nights ago. I mostly remember a scene in which sunlight was streaming through an open window onto me, and the message was that the real meaning of life is to be found in the beauty of the everyday. Everyday life is full of much more than we might see if we don't bother to look- and photography is a way of finding this. It came at a good time- the night before I took photos at AJ's wedding party, which I went to with him and T. I may follow this wisdom and see more in each day at a time- and I think being in a High School is a good place for this.