Treat The Causes Of War, Not The Symptoms – OpEd |
Millions of people die, lose their homes, families and livelihood due to wars and aggressions. Widows, orphans, destitute, physically disabled persons, hunger, inflation, unemployment and diseases are the after effects of war which remain as permanent reminders. War destroys top soil, forest, hills, air, oceans, water sources and food back up; it brings an end to a gamut of sustainable economic activities. The adverse impact of war on the economy, society, culture and on the human mind is irreparable. How to address the root causes of war has become the biggest challenge before the world community.
The Costs of War Project based at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, USA has estimated that post-9/11 wars have directly killed 905,000 to 940,000, and indirectly 3,600,000 to 3,800,000, making a total of 4,500,000-4,700,000 human lives; it has displaced 38,00,000 people and the total cost of the USA has exceeded $ 8 trillion which includes the war veterans’ care till 2050. The loss of life, destruction of economic assets, weapons, burning of oil infrastructure, damage to buildings, roads, bridges, schools and hospitals etc in Iran, Israel and in the gulf countries is too big to imagine. The US air attacks and military operations against Iran in “Operation Epic Fury” are reportedly costing approximately over $1 billion per day. Officials from President Donald Trump’s administration estimated during a congressional briefing last week that the first six days of the war on Iran had cost the US at least $11.3 billion. Some officials have said the request could be for $50 billion to prolong the war against Iran. By 2024, the impact of violence and conflict on the Global economy is estimated at $ 19.1 trillion which is roughly 13.5% of the world’s GDP. As of 2024, the global military expenditure reached $9 trillion; an additional $5.7 trillion is the internal security costs and $462 billion in GDP losses due to conflict. China’s military expenditure has increased by approximately 795% while Russia hovers around an increase of 544%. Human greed for power and for the natural resources has a crippling effect on both rich and poor nations. It is going to devour the entire planet.
Greed for amassing wealth and power is one of the reasons for war; the ambition to become a supreme power seldom allows the leaders to understand his fragility and his perishable human life. Greed and ego encourages the leaders to leave behind many monstrous deeds which give pain and sufferings to mankind. He engraves his deeds on the pages of history as a tyrant only to be hated by the new generations. History has recorded that various attempts to build global empires through religions, military power and through manipulative trade practices have failed. Lack of proper education, absence of a healthy cultural and religious environment let greed contaminate the human minds. Disappearance of forest, hills, rivers and lakes around the human habitats is one of the main reasons why cruelty and aggressiveness has developed among human beings. Nature always instills finer human emotions like love, kindness, compassion and fellow feelings in the minds of the humans. Today the children in families and schools no longer study moral science, history, literature, art, geography, anthropology and social science etc due to concentration of jobs in a few sectors like industry and services etc. The war, aggressions and religious hatred are psychological problems which can be reduced if the children expand their mind by studying a wide range of subjects.
The real war occurs in the human mind. It is the perpetual war between God and Satan. Proper understanding of God and the purpose of human life will let the person behave well with people around him, with people of other countries and culture. If a child is taught to hate people of other countries and the people from other religious communities, he grows to spread hatred. He never lives happily nor will he let others live happily. The world community should encourage research on religious scriptures and let people understand the core principles of religions. If a religion does not teach how to love human beings from any other country or from any other religion, there is a need for urgent reform. “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” (the world is one family) is the core principle of the ancient Sanatan Dharma which still survives due to the dedicated efforts of a few sages and seers in India. In fact, politics has caused immense damage to the Sanatan Dharma. It still can be the guiding principle for the world community. Peace, harmony and the survival of human beings as a human being is very important.
Population control should be the global agenda. If people do not have shelter, food, health facility, nutrition and proper education what is the use of the population? More than 70% of the population in South Asia lacks basic amenities; population growth here seldom contributes to the economic growth, society and culture. It contributes to violence, increase in crimes, war and unrest. The global community should develop long term solutions to end war and aggression. The USA and Israel should have developed alternate sources of energy to erode Iran’s fossil fuel and natural gas market. Iran could not have generated enough wealth to sustain nuclear research and to make missiles. All existential threats would have been nipped in the bud.