2025

What a terrible, terrible year. Personally and for many I imagine.

When I try and wrap my head around the bigger picture, all I can do is feel helpless and overwhelmed with the problems that persist on our planet today.

We have a conflict within continental Europe, which, still has no conclusion. This is between two nation-states. The casualties resulting from it are so vast, they can only be estimated in the hundreds of thousands. One is enough, as my grandmother used to say. What people will do for their ‘flag’ and national identity, out of love supposedly, can cause irreparable harm to another. It feels as though we have progressed nowhere since WWI and WW2, tragic episodes in fairly recent history in the grand scheme of things, yet men are still prepared to give their lives for their country and leader. This is but one of the problems yet to be resolved today.

We have witnessed clashes between India and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Palestine, civil war in Sudan and Nigeria, conflict in the DRC, continued conflict in Yemen, Syria, Iran and Israel, and US interventions both diplomatically and militarily to help bring about peace.

It is clear that we are transitioning from a unipolar to multipolar world, and just like previous transitions in history, we are seeing an increased likelihood of conflict. We have 200 nation-states globally, not including the unrecognised states. How do we ensure that can keep all these nation-states remain peacefully inclined. You would think globalisation and capitalism would mean that war is unprofitable and pointless, but still we see defence spending across the world increase markedly. Are nation-states seeing an increased likelihood of threats posed to them? Why have NATO countries agreed to spend 5% of their GDP on defence by 2035?

In what seems like a lifetime ago, the US hegemony supported by allies, maintained a rules-based international order with both the US and the UN acting as the overarching mediators ensuring international law, human rights and norms are upheld. Even during that period, we saw the break-up of Yugoslavia, interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan etc. Liberal democracy, the final destination for nation-states to pursue and we had reached the supposed ‘End of History’ as claimed by Francis Fukuyama. Well, history appears live and well. We see autocratic states with vast amounts of power and wealth, coexisting somehow with democratic states which are incredibly wealthy and powerful as well. The global economy is now roughly around $117 trillion. Levels of capitalism accumulation never before seen in human history, yet, we still see conflict, inequality and poverty on vast scales as well.

How do we possibly try and examine or view the bigger picture when problems exist that far exceed our ability to comprehend. How do we even begin the tally and measure the problems that face the 8.2 billion on our planet? We all seek simple answers and simple solutions. We are one specie of the millions that remain in existence today, but what have we done to the planet? What awaits us all?

When you view the problems from this perspective, we must ask ourselves… Why is there so much hostility today? How can we be so advanced as a species yet primitive enough to continue to engage in conflict nowadays? Why have we not, with all our technological prowess and unimaginably intelligent people amongst us, secured global peace, ended poverty, ended suffering and hunger just as we have eradicated diseases in previous decades?

Unfortunately, I think of three major concerns today: God, guns and flags. That’s before we even begin to mention money. What compels us to cause harm to our fellow man? Could it be a belief in the supernatural? Our love of our country? The widespread accumulation of power that enables us to cause harm so easily?

The hegemon, which has all but unilaterally led the world since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States, has left us in a perilous situation. It sounds lovely, does it not, leading the world to freedom and democracy. Many nation-states subscribed and submitted to US power. Many forms of democracy and capitalism took hold in many nations, since the alternatives, socialism and communism had all but failed in merit and failed to compete with the economic behemoth that is the United States. Neoliberalism has been encouraged since the 80’s. Less government, limited taxes and more enterprise left to the ‘free-market’. What has this resulted in? Millions feverishly working daily to support the ever growing capitalist system and all the stress that entails?

The world prior to WWI and WW2 was heavily globalised and interconnected, just as we are today through complex trade connections, but it all seized up when the threat of war became all too apparent and nation-states were fully mobilised and committed to defence and military spending.

So, what am I getting at here? Is it a false illusion that all this wealth accumulation internationally means that we are more advanced now? That the times we live in are better?

I fear it means that more is it stake than ever before. 8.2 billion people and $117 trillion globally to be more precise. Given the scale of what is at stake, we have to get this right as a species, or risk the loss of our own.

We are divided into roughly 200 nation-states, countless religions, ethnicities, sub-states, class, genders etc. We are divided by wealth, professions, organisations etc. We have artificially created countless barriers towards a common humanity. It is such a shame. We look at the diversity on this Earth from a natural or biological perspective, and we can all but feel ashamed at what Homo Sapiens have done. That’s right, I’m about to mention climate change. On top of Inter-state and intra-state conflict, we could all too soon, cause conditions on Earth to be less favourable towards supporting life. This is as a result of 8.2 billion reaching consumption levels that is just too mind-boggling to imagine.

We could point the finger at the two largest economies today, the US and China, but even combined that would only account for under half of global consumption and emissions. So, what has happened? What can we do? Do we let the democracies and ‘free-market’ fix this mess? Do we have governments mandate solutions? Do we create a UN which is truly united and effective?

How do we all somehow cooperate without any issues? How do we all find common ground when we have autocracies, democracies, religion and armed forces divided by linguistic, ethnic and national lines? How do we ensure that the power realities today do not spiral into humanity’s destruction?

It would be insane and fanciful to think that all the global issues today can be resolved peacefully. Unfortunately, as we end the first quarter of a century of the new millennia, it is difficult to see an end to the violence and suffering that mankind endured today. I do not know about you, but I am truly fed up with hearing about all the problems and I want solutions.

I want an end to the war in Ukraine. I want to be sure there is no war over Taiwan. I do not want inter-state conflict between two nuclear armed states, like India and Pakistan. I do not want a clash of civilisations. I do not want to hear about US and Israeli interventions for nationalistic and religious reasons. I want to be sure that Xi Jinping and Putin do not have anymore territorial acquisition ambitions, given the scale of the power and infrastructure they possess with little accountability. I want to be sure NATO is spending their money wisely and not risking another world war by provoking Russia and China, both nuclear armed states with militaries that, combined, could rival US military power, spending and, importantly, capability.

I wish it were as simple as creating an all-powerful UN, but how would that work? It would still be mired with corruption and mismanagement, because no system or entity is perfect. But surely anything is better than the status quo, given how precarious everything is. Our common ground could be our shared humanity.

I am about to be a father, and it pains me that I have brought a child into all this madness. I want them to have a carefree and lovely life. I have just seen a recap of the year on the BBC and some of the most dreadful and shocking things have happened. Enough to make you feel trepidation for the future. When did everything go so horribly, horribly wrong? How do we thread the needle and ensure everything goes so incredibly, incredibly right?

History is written by the victors. I have seen countless documentaries and read numerous books about the Second World War, and it defies belief today that it actually happened. The drama, the chaos, the violence perpetrated by nation-states and demagogues in power of military industrial complexes capable of wielding and unleashing military power several thousand miles away. The crimes against humanity committed… surely we were going to put everything right afterwards. The technological advances during that conflict where unbelievable. Hostilities ended after two nuclear blasts and an invasion of Germany by the Soviets, British and Americans along with other Allied forces.

I just hope that, behind the scenes, just like the intellectual breakthroughs and advances made during that war, there are operations in effect behind the scenes today that far exceed D-Day, the island hopping in the Pacific and the Soviet counter-attack after Operation Barbarossa failed. Intelligent people know the problems and the scale of the problems we face. Amongst those 8.2 billion people that inhabit this planet, are, unfortunately bad people. There are also a great number of good people. But what is good and what is bad?

Because fighting for one’s country or God… in someone’s eyes, is paramount to doing the utmost of ‘good’. And what people will do to resist is, in their eyes, the utmost of ‘good’. How do we sift through all the goodness?

A colleague of mine once told me that most during WW2 purposely missed with their guns unless confronted with the real possibility of harm and survival. It is entirely possible that most of the Germans and Japanese fighting were good people at heart, but they were trapped in an unforgiving system. There was an assassination attempt within the Third Reich to end Hitler’s life. The July 20th plot. They knew he had lost his mind and that the war was lost, they did what they thought was in the best interest for the nation they loved and respected.

They failed and were executed, but their bravery was not unnoticed.

It’s heroism of this nature we need today. But, for someone to see sense beyond the nation-state, beyond their belief in God, beyond their ‘job’ and beyond their status and do what is right for… humanity.

If we could collectively agree, at the very least, we are all human and… now is the time to put things right in this life…

Well we could write a better narrative for humanity, how we, out of shared compassion and love, wrote a story that resonates until our sun dies out, or beyond.

But I fear, just to write these words I must have gone insane. Because reality as it is today, let us be honest, takes more than hope and bravery. It requires wholly good decisions by state actors and those with power and wealth. It would require all nation-states to give up their arms and nuclear weapons for the common good, but we are not there yet. Not even close.

We see that in many countries, it is illegal to leave your religion. We see that women are still second class citizens in many nations, with no hope of achieving parity to men. We see an intolerance towards homosexuality, one that in many nations results in severe punishments. We witness oppression and compulsion even on an individual level. We are forced to work the majority of our lives, for hundreds of millions at least, just to cope with the cost of living. That is before we begin to understand and correctly define poverty. We cannot fathom the abuse humanity faces.

What is freedom? Freedom from fear would be nice, surely. Can we have that one at least? It would be nice to rest easy knowing we will not be hearing about anymore crimes being committed, no more avoidable fatalities, no more protests that spiralled into violence, or just no more violence in general. Social media today is but what complicating factor that reveals how varied we are in thoughts and beliefs. How could we ever conceive of getting along when we see from posts that reveal that we almost seem to share a common inhumanity.

The recap of the year had me thinking, and rambling mentally as I have done now… just to try and come to terms with the scale of the problems.

Every single day in the United States there are several shootings and mass shootings. Every day in the UK there are several fatal stabbings. These are facts. What is causing such horrific things to happen on such a terrible scale, in two countries which supposedly uphold our ‘freedoms’? What about freedom causes people to do such heinous acts… daily.

In the 1950’s and 60’s in Britain, you could leave your child in a pram outside the supermarket. That is unheard of today. What changed within civilised society? When did fear take hold? Is there something to genuinely be afraid of or are we paranoid today? I fear… but I do not know.

We see drug rates, incarceration rates, theft and hear horrible about tragedies daily occurring across the UK. Why do people feel compelled to do such horrible things in a supposedly civilised and ‘free’ country. Free people, if they are truly free, surely do not feel the need to steal, take substances or harm another etc. Yet, that is what we are witnessing daily.

In the United States, we hear about horrible tragedies that defy belief. I have seen on Netflix recently about the father who murdered his wife and children in a town where I used to work. He was the epitome of a ‘good American Dad’ but then he… did the unthinkable.

History is written by the victors, yes, and we are also writing history as we speak through our actions and words. We all have a common humanity and a perception of right and wrong that transcends our perception of history and cultural perspectives. We also look at nature and how brutal it can be, how survival for apex predators results in hunting down prey for sustenance. We also have, most likely, a very limited perspective as advances in science constantly remind us how much there is yet unknown.

We all aim to survive by any means necessary, and I would like to survive to see a beautiful story being written collectively about how we escaped this terrible tumultuous period in history unscathed.

Think of the man in the Soviet Union who worked for its nuclear missile defence when confronted with what turned out to be a false alarm. He was confronted with the possibility of a nuclear missile strike by the United States and was pressured to respond, but he held his nerve and did not order a retaliatory strike.

Now we need something like this to happen daily by every nuclear armed state that exists. Fortunately, there are not that many, but you see how vulnerable of a position that we are in today. Humanity could have been obliterated had it not been for people using their own better judgement.

How do we ensure that all 8.2 billion of us use our optimal judgement? That remains to be seen. For now, we all seem to depend on Donald Trump and his allies, and US power, which is declining relatively, to help guide us towards a peaceful era.

Around Christmas he ordered strikes into Nigeria and sent a carrier group recently to Venezuela. It is too nightmarish to comprehend, but I hold out hope that US power will be used effectively to guide humanity towards a peaceful conclusion in the immediate future. That is our main hope. Our only hope perhaps.

Think of the Manhattan Project and how many intelligent minds came together to create a nuclear bomb. Now imagine all the intelligent minds coming together for our collective security. Yes, we demonise intelligent networks but… these are intelligent people working on problems. You can call me a conspiracy theorist but.. what do you think the Five Eyes, the intelligence security network for the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States are working on? They want us to collectively survive as much as we all do, because we are all self-interested.

I obviously write this from a Western perspective. I have lived in the UK and the US, and Spain for a bit. I have travelled across North America and Europe, but that still leaves me terribly blind to all the other national perspectives out there. I do not believe in God. I do not possess any weapons. I have not been involved in an armed conflict. I have not seen the horrors of war. I seek to found my beliefs on facts, reason and truths so far as I can see it.

I recently watched an interview of Sir David Attenborough and he commented on what it must be like for us as a human species to have limited scope and information. ‘I opened a termite colony and watched from above as all these blind termites furiously worked to serve the colony and Queen.’ I paraphrase but this is a useful analogy because we just cannot comprehend entirely what is actually happening if we do not understand what senses we lack making any complete judgement. Until we learn otherwise and more is understood by scientific enquiry and reasoning, I stick by facts and reason as we know it now. Yes, there could be a higher being. We may never know for certain. But based on the fact that all these ‘Gods’ have turned out to be fictitious or non-existent, surely that means there is no higher power as we have designed it thus far. But we do know an awful lot more about the universe than we did just a few decades ago. We are constantly learning and discovering, and all this science and technology is beyond any individual’s mental grasp. We all have limited information, myself especially.

One man who claimed to have all the answers and fell victim to his own ideologies and perspectives, ended up in charge of what was a liberal democracy: The Weimar Republic. Then he transformed it into a militaristic fascist state. A recent reminder in history that some men can be wicked beyond all comprehension and still secure power and almost complete control of a nation-state. Is history repeating itself after but one to two generations? I think we know what I am referring to given the few men that have all but complete control over their nation-states today. But, ultimately, we are all individuals and this particular man has been studied and written about for decades post-WW2. Advances in psychology and medicine have given us a better idea of how this man behaved and thought. The Holocaust is without a doubt a crime against humanity which must never occur again, but we see today that people can become filled with hatred and fury, blinded by ideology enough to rationalise anger and hate.

We know that Hitler was deluded in his final days and he fell victim to the Allies deception plot to confuse the German High Command into thinking the D-Day landing spot was in Calais. He believed the Normandy landings were a rouse. He did not send in the Panzer divisions held in reserve to confront the Allies early on at the beachhead. Rommel depended on these to ensure the Atlantic Wall was effective. As we saw from Hitler’s Last Stand directives against the better judgement from his generals, his paranoia and drug use riddled his judgement. There are interesting ‘What If’ scenarios which many enjoy pondering. Could we be living in a very different world today had he managed to secure peace with Britain, win on the Eastern Front and North Africa etc.? History could have been vastly different, and as we know from the liberation of extermination camps, it could be unquestionably worse. We all, with a shared common humanity, know that exterminating people is wrong. Then why is it still happening today?

For the same reasons it happened then. Genocide has been claimed to be happening in Palestine and to the Palestinian people. Occupation and resistance is happening now, but who is right and who is wrong? We see how military doctrine becomes embedded within a nation-state and how the arguments for security result in harsh measures being taken. It is brutal to see. My grandpa was always dismayed at Israel’s actions in Palestine and it would infuriate him. ‘It’s their land!’ He would cry. It is a very emotive issue for many and we see protests against Palestine and in favour of all across the world today. But what if neither side, if blinded by religion and their God, is right. What if nation-states, demanding rigid compulsion, end up muddling and confusing morality. And therein lies the problem: God, guns and flags. Again, not to mention the money that plays a role in funding military operation on either side of the conflict. How do we solve these problems? No God, no guns and no flags? Just an idea.

To revert back to Hitler at D-Day, and this landmark historical event in the 21st century. It is quite exciting to think what deception plots are being used today to achieve objectives that are on par with liberating Europe and ending the war with Japan, which at 1941 seemed far-fetched.

I am a cautious optimist. There are an abundance of lessons throughout history that demonstrate and give us an idea of what the future will be like. Realists assume that power is all important, and we must assume that war is our only certainty from historical analysis. Some argue that this is pessimistic and self-defeating. But today, we see military expenditures rising. What is all this high tech weaponry for? What have we learned from the Russo-Ukrainian War? Perhaps many lessons, perhaps it has spurred a technological arms race behind the scenes just as the world wars did.

The true heroes of WW2 were those at Bletchley Park. Their decryptions were so advanced that they had to make difficult decisions as to when or when not to reveal German attack plans. They had to withheld information out of fear of revealing to the Axis that they had broken the Enigma code. What information is being withheld from us today?

Well, we will never know until the information is declassified and time has progressed enough to reveal to the general public.

For now, we can only hope, just like the scale of the project involving the Hadron Collider and examining the Higgs Boson particle, that there are very good intelligent people who have got everything figured out and they seek to do what is best for the greater good, for all of us.

All of us.

Happy New Year! Let’s hope it’s a ‘good’ one!