Life is a (dangerous) game.

 

 Life is a (dangerous) game.

There is a war going on. Actually, there are many wars but only one is on the news. Others don’t even catch the attention of the many folks who report and also make up news on social media. The regular media has some rules, yet often reflects the views of their owners, advertisers, and, in many places like Russia, the governments that have power over them. Social media may be a superb source for exposing some truths but often is hijacked by people who make up stories that somehow benefit them. The public has the freedom to choose who they want to believe.

The war I am talking about is not the horrible war going on now in Ukraine and covered by all the sources of news, but a war that has been going on much longer and affecting all of us, not just one or two nations. It’s a war that was talked about in biblical times. In the old days, it was between free people and others they wanted to enslave. Now it’s not so obvious but amounts to the same thing. The Russian government wants to take over Ukraine and make its people subjects. The Ukrainians wish to follow leaders they democratically choose.

When people work together, they produce wealth and have some degree of power. Some of the wealth and power go to the group or country and those who made it use some. Alberta and later Newfoundland produce oil and object to a federal government, making them share some of the revenue with those who don’t. That is why some Albertans always hate the Federal leaders. Yet at the same time, we love investors who organize and pay for projects that will make money even if they will take much of it for themselves, often hiding it from taxes. Governments also invest, but are expected to make money from taxing others.

The smartest humans are not interested in being political leaders. In today’s reality, it is better to take the money and use it to make more money. It is acceptable until we have oligarchs rule the country, as Putin and his cabal do. One leads and others keep him in power.

 

In Russia today, oligarchs are unjustly living lavishly as long as they keep Putin in power and make the country in the image he wishes it to be. The media are harshly regulated and the people follow it. Putin is very popular. In the west, we have by far more oligarchs but they compete with each other dividing media and the people. You can summarise the division as competition between the political left and right. Both, if carried to extremes, are equally damaging to society.

The war I am concerned about is between the many people whose work produces wealth and the relatively few who take the benefits for their private pleasure. They take so much that they have to subject many people to what is close to slavery. The people fight for democracy and freedom which are also corrupted. People in the Russian Federation, for example, don’t have better or worst living conditions or health care than their equals in America.

We had a long period of relative peace on earth since nuclear weapons deterred the strongest countries from having wars with each other. Now the war in central Europe changed the situation.

 Big Pharma just finished making a killing on vaccines that governments invested billions to develop. Now old stacks of weapons got used and there is a lot more money made available for new weapons. Weapon manufacturers will take a lot of countries’ budgets while health care education and so on will have to save it out of what they need.

The oligarchs will not pay for the weapons or the armies that keep them and their investments safe. It will be the working people. We will pay for the mismanagement of the supply chains, the new armies and weapons, and the restructuring of energy distribution infrastructure. Any hope that we may have had for social reforms will be dashed in the name of defending freedom and a fresh surge in patriotism.

The living conditions of the common people on both sides of the conflict will probably worsen. One blessing is that people will try harder to get off carbon fuels.

A few years ago, there was a summit in Europe that Trump and Putin both attended. They became friends, and the media reported that they had a meeting alone for about two hours. Yes, Putin speaks English. I wish I could know what they said, but no one will ever know. Could they have agreed that the US will take Canada and Russia take Ukraine? We could make a nice rich territory even better than Puerto Rico. Just a bad dream. But what if those two did talk about it and Trump returns?

I better not think about it. Yet a month ago Ukrainians didn’t believe that Russia would come to conquer their country. If anyone will try to take Canada, we have the “freedom fighters” with their trucks, bouncy castles, and placards to defend us.

I would be happier if we quit the silly noise about removing weapons from all good citizens and if municipalities would support gun clubs instead of hiking their rents. A few old sports shooters could train a lot of people fast.

Now we are hurrying up to reopen, remove medically based restrictions, and risk more troubles. You can tell that some premiers are facing elections. We are not trying to improve ordinary lives since we will need more money for defense. I don’t like it. However, we must play the game with the cards handed to us. If we fold, we lose freedom.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.