Increasingly, I find myself thinking about the nameless people who are the victims of violence brought about by shameless politicians and authoritarian leaders. The Ukraine War, the Israeli destruction of Gaza and the Iran War have killed or maimed thousands of people, civilians and others whose fate has put them in the middle of geopolitical struggles and violence. Who speaks for them? No one seems to care; after all it is war, and people die in war, the president keeps telling us.
As always, it’s the powerless and innocent who suffer and die while the oligarchs and the rich continue to enjoy Mar-a-Lago, their dachas, and safe havens, while lining their pockets with gold and making life and death decisions for others.
What does all this say about us? We cast our ballots with too little thought, too selfishly and too often partisan contempt. We don’t have a stake in the killings, we don’t go to war nor do our kids – wars and bad things happen on television, over there, not in our neighborhoods.
I wonder, too, what does all this portend for the millions who are disenfranchised, dislocated, humiliated and forgotten by the powers that bring indiscriminate violence upon them. How will the young people in the Middle East see the United States and allies who rain death and destruction upon them and their families. How would you feel, what would you think?