Some thought-provoking words of Russian President Putin about the dangers today of global arms race and global conflict (war)
Ravi: Firstly, I would like to say that I am for peace and against war, unless in self-defense, and that I am neutral in the political blame-game between USA and Russia, the two biggest military powers on the planet today in 2019.
So me putting up this post should not be viewed as me being supportive of President Putin of Russia against USA. No. I repeat, I am just neutral.
I could have chosen not to put up this post to avoid charges of being supportive of one or the other country, in my posts.
But I repeat that I am also for peace and against war, unless in self-defense, and so in the interests of doing my tiny, tiny bit to promoting peace on the planet, I am putting up this post.
From 24 seconds into this video of a meeting between news agencies heads and President Putin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LHaScqvdzU, around 10 mins, published by Russia Insight on 7th June 2019, President Putin is asked by a top man of TASS (English translation of (presumably) Russian words):
"We always started our recent meetings by agreeing that the planet is going through the most dangerous period of confrontation: countries flare up, entire regions blaze, there are sanctions, trade wars, fake news - this is the content of nearly all news feeds from all world agencies. They are talking about a new cold war. Every country is certain that it knows who is to blame for that. Why do we have to start our conversation in 2019 with the same question: why is the world not becoming any safer? Where is our civilization going? Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel? What can the countries that are the main players in the political process do about it? This is a generalized question, Mr. President."
President Putin responds:
"If we look around at the murals, at the frescoes, look up – there is war everywhere. Unfortunately, this has been the case for ages. Human history is full of stories of conflict. It is true that all conflicts were followed by periods of peace. But it would be better to avoid conflicts altogether. After the invention and creation of nuclear weapons, humanity has maintained a state of relative global peace for almost 75 years – relative, of course, with the exception of regional conflicts."
...
"We should just keep in mind, should understand what kind of world we live in, and what threats and dangers might await us. If we do not keep this “fiery serpent” under control, if we let it out of the bottle, God forbid, this could lead to a global catastrophe. Look, today everyone is addressing environmental issues, and they are right to do so, because there are global threats such as climate change, anthropogenic emissions, and so on. All this is correct. Even children are engaged in this, girls and boys all over the world.
But they do not realize, these young people, especially teenagers and children, they are not aware of the global threat and serious challenge posed by possible global conflicts. This is something adult men and women should think about. However, I get the impression that these issues have somehow become commonplace, and have kind of been shifted to the background. This raises natural concerns."
...
"Incidentally, this (USA withdrawal from ABM treaty) was the first step towards a fundamental destabilisation of the global security framework, and a major step at that. Now, we are talking about our American partners terminating, also unilaterally, their INF Treaty membership."
...
"If no one is interested in renewing the START-3 Treaty, we will not renew it. We have already said a hundred times that we are ready to do so, but no one is willing to talk about it with us. Please note that there is no formal negotiating process, and everything will expire in 2021. Mind you, there will be no more instruments to limit an arms race.
Or, for example, deploying weapons in outer space. Do we understand what this means or not? Ask the experts. It means that each of us will have to live at all times, say, under a nuclear weapon. Permanently!
But we are doing this, and doing it quickly. Will anyone ever think about it, talk about it, or show any concern? No, complete silence.
Or, take low-yield nuclear weapons, or non-nuclear strategic missiles. What if a global-range strategic missile is launched from a submarine in the middle of the ocean? How do we know if it carries a nuclear charge or not?
Do you realise how serious and dangerous this is?
What if the other side responds right away? What will happen then?
I am deeply convinced that this should be the subject of an open and absolutely transparent professional discussion, and the international community should be involved in this process as much as is possible in matters of this kind.
In any case, people have the right to know what is happening in this sphere.
To reiterate, we are ready to do this. Once again, we are confident in our security, but there is, of course, a concern about the complete dismantling of the entire mechanism of control over strategic armaments and non-proliferation.
What’s the solution? It is in cooperation, period. The most recent conversation I had with President Trump, I must say, inspires certain optimism, because Donald told me that he, too, was concerned about this.
He is fully cognizant of the amount of arms-related expenses incurred by the United States and other countries. This money could be used for other purposes.
I completely agree with him.
The US Secretary of State came here. We met in Sochi, and he spoke along the same lines.
If they think so, we should take some practical steps towards making a joint effort.
Again, today, talks between the countries with the most powerful nuclear potential are the most important ones.
However, on a personal note, I think that all nuclear countries should be involved, including official and unofficial.
Talking only with the officially recognised nuclear powers and leaving out the unofficial countries means they will continue to develop nuclear weapons. In the end, this process will grind to a halt even between the official nuclear states.
So, by and large, we need to create a broad platform for discussion and decision-making.
In this sense, of course, this could be the light at the end of the tunnel."
--- end transcript snippets ---
Ravi: It seems to me that now in 2019, the world power equations scenario is moving to a great powers like situation that prevailed before World War II. The post World War II world order (world power equations) has largely kept the world in peace (barring regional conflicts) since 1945.
Let us pray that the danger of global arms race and global conflict diminishes and that a new and stable world order emerges which is reflective of the current situation in the world in 2019, and which is successful in keeping the peace that the world has enjoyed since 1945 (barring regional conflicts). Note that as I was born in 1962, I have been a great beneficiary of peace in the world (barring regional conflicts) without which I could not have had a good international software tech. career which essentially has enabled me to retire from commercial work in Aug. 2002 to lead an Indian lower-middle class single spiritual aspirant life and to become a free-service social media writer from Sept. 2011.
[I thank Russia Insight and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above transcript snippets from their youtube video on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
So me putting up this post should not be viewed as me being supportive of President Putin of Russia against USA. No. I repeat, I am just neutral.
I could have chosen not to put up this post to avoid charges of being supportive of one or the other country, in my posts.
But I repeat that I am also for peace and against war, unless in self-defense, and so in the interests of doing my tiny, tiny bit to promoting peace on the planet, I am putting up this post.
From 24 seconds into this video of a meeting between news agencies heads and President Putin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LHaScqvdzU, around 10 mins, published by Russia Insight on 7th June 2019, President Putin is asked by a top man of TASS (English translation of (presumably) Russian words):
"We always started our recent meetings by agreeing that the planet is going through the most dangerous period of confrontation: countries flare up, entire regions blaze, there are sanctions, trade wars, fake news - this is the content of nearly all news feeds from all world agencies. They are talking about a new cold war. Every country is certain that it knows who is to blame for that. Why do we have to start our conversation in 2019 with the same question: why is the world not becoming any safer? Where is our civilization going? Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel? What can the countries that are the main players in the political process do about it? This is a generalized question, Mr. President."
President Putin responds:
"If we look around at the murals, at the frescoes, look up – there is war everywhere. Unfortunately, this has been the case for ages. Human history is full of stories of conflict. It is true that all conflicts were followed by periods of peace. But it would be better to avoid conflicts altogether. After the invention and creation of nuclear weapons, humanity has maintained a state of relative global peace for almost 75 years – relative, of course, with the exception of regional conflicts."
...
"We should just keep in mind, should understand what kind of world we live in, and what threats and dangers might await us. If we do not keep this “fiery serpent” under control, if we let it out of the bottle, God forbid, this could lead to a global catastrophe. Look, today everyone is addressing environmental issues, and they are right to do so, because there are global threats such as climate change, anthropogenic emissions, and so on. All this is correct. Even children are engaged in this, girls and boys all over the world.
But they do not realize, these young people, especially teenagers and children, they are not aware of the global threat and serious challenge posed by possible global conflicts. This is something adult men and women should think about. However, I get the impression that these issues have somehow become commonplace, and have kind of been shifted to the background. This raises natural concerns."
...
"Incidentally, this (USA withdrawal from ABM treaty) was the first step towards a fundamental destabilisation of the global security framework, and a major step at that. Now, we are talking about our American partners terminating, also unilaterally, their INF Treaty membership."
...
"If no one is interested in renewing the START-3 Treaty, we will not renew it. We have already said a hundred times that we are ready to do so, but no one is willing to talk about it with us. Please note that there is no formal negotiating process, and everything will expire in 2021. Mind you, there will be no more instruments to limit an arms race.
Or, for example, deploying weapons in outer space. Do we understand what this means or not? Ask the experts. It means that each of us will have to live at all times, say, under a nuclear weapon. Permanently!
But we are doing this, and doing it quickly. Will anyone ever think about it, talk about it, or show any concern? No, complete silence.
Or, take low-yield nuclear weapons, or non-nuclear strategic missiles. What if a global-range strategic missile is launched from a submarine in the middle of the ocean? How do we know if it carries a nuclear charge or not?
Do you realise how serious and dangerous this is?
What if the other side responds right away? What will happen then?
I am deeply convinced that this should be the subject of an open and absolutely transparent professional discussion, and the international community should be involved in this process as much as is possible in matters of this kind.
In any case, people have the right to know what is happening in this sphere.
To reiterate, we are ready to do this. Once again, we are confident in our security, but there is, of course, a concern about the complete dismantling of the entire mechanism of control over strategic armaments and non-proliferation.
What’s the solution? It is in cooperation, period. The most recent conversation I had with President Trump, I must say, inspires certain optimism, because Donald told me that he, too, was concerned about this.
He is fully cognizant of the amount of arms-related expenses incurred by the United States and other countries. This money could be used for other purposes.
I completely agree with him.
The US Secretary of State came here. We met in Sochi, and he spoke along the same lines.
If they think so, we should take some practical steps towards making a joint effort.
Again, today, talks between the countries with the most powerful nuclear potential are the most important ones.
However, on a personal note, I think that all nuclear countries should be involved, including official and unofficial.
Talking only with the officially recognised nuclear powers and leaving out the unofficial countries means they will continue to develop nuclear weapons. In the end, this process will grind to a halt even between the official nuclear states.
So, by and large, we need to create a broad platform for discussion and decision-making.
In this sense, of course, this could be the light at the end of the tunnel."
--- end transcript snippets ---
Ravi: It seems to me that now in 2019, the world power equations scenario is moving to a great powers like situation that prevailed before World War II. The post World War II world order (world power equations) has largely kept the world in peace (barring regional conflicts) since 1945.
Let us pray that the danger of global arms race and global conflict diminishes and that a new and stable world order emerges which is reflective of the current situation in the world in 2019, and which is successful in keeping the peace that the world has enjoyed since 1945 (barring regional conflicts). Note that as I was born in 1962, I have been a great beneficiary of peace in the world (barring regional conflicts) without which I could not have had a good international software tech. career which essentially has enabled me to retire from commercial work in Aug. 2002 to lead an Indian lower-middle class single spiritual aspirant life and to become a free-service social media writer from Sept. 2011.
[I thank Russia Insight and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above transcript snippets from their youtube video on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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