Tue May 23

The G-7, Ukraine-Russia War, and Revisiting Hiroshima and Cruelty of Wars

Written by Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.

The G-7 Disconnect to Sense of One Humanity

How do you cure political cynicism with intellectual foresights? The G-7 used to be a G-8 including Russia but since 2014, it was changed to an exclusive club of the likeminded America-European think tanks for their own politics and future-making. They share political interests and values of their own but not the sanctity of human life grounded in the tenets of One Humanity based on equality of human beings, justice, and respect for others and always be open to listening and learning to manage the phenomenon of change and sustainable future. If Russia was still a 8^th member of the club, a reasoned dialogue could have emerged to end the war between Russia –Ukraine and follow it through with restoration of normalization between the adjacent cultures of thinking and actions. Despite the likeminded leader’s deliberation, there were no much needed initiatives of leader’s moral consciousness for peace and conflict resolution. They invited India, South Africa, South Korean, Brazil and others who are in conflict with the US and Europeans stance on the war; yet for economic and face-saving overtures, their presence is recorded and they do not offer any unanimity to global community’s pursuits for peace and end of the conflict.

Human disconnect to truth has caused many catastrophic disasters and contradictions to mislead the global humanity. The military approach was high on the agenda. Does it mean that the G-7 leadership lacks imagination for a peaceful resolution of the emerging conflicts? A reflective snap shot of a critical moment in time pulse and movement of history reveals absence of reasoned dialogue for the prevention of the on –going conflict causing massive human casualties, displacement of millions of Ukrainian civilian refugees across Europe, destruction of essential civic infrastructures and furious competitive edge for success in an ugly war between Russia, the West and Ukraine. To glance ahead of the emerging horrifying events coming out of the Russian-Ukraine war fronts, We, The People of global humanity must call for immediate halt to all war machines and lingering suspicion of one-sided peace and triumph.

Sometimes Western thinking cultures unimaginably look for remote movements of time and destiny for a navigational change. Often ferocious scenarios of good, evil and wrong are used by the policy makers to explain the contrasts of the present. Paul Craig Roberts (“The United States has been destroyed by its Ruling Elite.” 5/18/2023: Global research), claims that “the US is moving toward a fatal split in the society from which recovery is impossible.”

One wonders, why the G-7 wanted to meet at Hiroshima. Political tyranny and oppression could not avert the bombing of Hiroshima. Agreeably, civilizations and sustainable future do not evolve out of the moral and intellectual mire of military conquests, cruelty and imperialism. Were they thinking to change the history and its encompassing realism? But the object of historic memory was not replaced with hope for the present or the future. They did nothing new to discard the old follies and restore a new sense of imagination for peace and harmony between the warring parties. The threat of lethal nuclear weapons is looming at the decision-making tables. The leaders could deny it as a working option, be it the Western or Russian.

Dropping of the 2 Atomic Bombs was a Rush to Political Judgment

They have learned to destroy the Earth but not to protect its natural sanctity. Do the G-7 leaders know how the living Earth and the living Universe were created and function? And what Laws of the Nature govern the global planetary systems? What relationship does Man and Humanity enjoin to the working of Earth and the larger Universe? Be aware oh-fellow human beings, we reside on a living Earth, not a dead entity -how the planet Earth exists and moves at its axis and rotates at 1675 km per hour or 465 meters per second that is 1,040 miles per hour faster than the scientific imagination:

“Behold! in the creation of the Heavens and of the earth, and the alternation of the Night and Day, There are indeed Signs for men of understanding; Men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, and sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of ) creation in the heavens and the earth with the thought): Our Lord! Not for naught Hast Thou created all this, Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the Penalty of the Fire.” (The Qur’an: Chapter 3: 190-191)

“And He created everything, and measured it in due proportion.” (The Quran: Chapter 25: 2). There is a moral sense of spirituality and humanity to co-exist in harmony with the rest of all creations on this Earth. Modern wars represent sadistic and cruel minds to undermine human rights, dignity and life. They destroy all that is built over the ages that we call human cultures and civilizations. Using nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and other WMD destroys Earth and its capacity to sustain life, flow water, grow foods and produce oxygen, support sustainable future of all living things. Think again: Does the Earth not provide all that was needed by human intellect, scientific and technological progress and changing times? Human beings were equipped by Nature with intelligence, not ignorance or arrogance.

After 78 years of the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki, there is no will and defined system to question the aggressors for destroying the lives of millions. All wars have ripple effects as Japanese continued to face the unraveling impacts of the first nuclear bomb. The victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki know it firsthand what is like to be living in a man-made hell. The Japan’s PM spoke of nuclear disarmament that is nowhere visible in the 21st century.

What the US did 78 years earlier, could conveniently be repeated by any parties to the conflict. Pat Elder (“Hiroshima and Nagasaki: American High School Textbooks Perpetuate The Big Lie” 8/02/2013, Information Clearing House), describes it in the following narrative: “Quite simply, President Truman dropped those bombs on a defeated Japan to tell the Russians and the world to back off. We had two bombs and we were going to use them. In a typically cavalier fashion, Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander, U.S. Third Fleet remarked, “It was a mistake to ever drop [the bomb]. . .they had this toy and they wanted to try it out, so they dropped it.”

Admiral William D. Leahy, the President’s Chief of Staff said, “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.”

History is living and How do We, the People Reflect on the Grieving Sense of Humanity.

Professor Rodrigue Tremblay (“The Moral Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” Global Research: 8/06/2013), clarifies: ”As American Christians, we are deeply penitent …..the surprise bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are morally indefensible.”(The American Federal Council of Churches ‘Report on Atomic Warfare and the Christian Faith, 1946).

“It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. ” – “The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are frightening. (William Leahy, Chief of Staff to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (“I Was There”, p. 441).

If the G-7 leaders wanted a new beginning refuting the past imperialism and subjugation of the poor and vulnerable nations, they should have focused on specific workable strategies to call for an immediate ceasefire and dialogue between President Putin and President Zellensky. China is pursuing a plan for peacemaking and so are the few African countries taking initiatives to break the deafening silence between Russia and Ukraine for peacemaking. How come the G-7 has no strategic plan to end the conflict? What if the G-7 could replace the historic colonial cynicism with optimism and see the 21^st century New World of opportunities and realism and seek peace between Israel and Palestine, between India and Pakistan on Kashmir; and a global approach to climate change and harmonize socio-economic and humanitarian affairs for a sustainable future on this Earth. The unchallenging TRUTH arising from the emerging conflicts and leadership failure call for new THINKING and New People of ideas and ideals to reject the violent assumptions of militarization and egoistic triumphs by acts of genocidal plans. We the People of globe ask the conscientious leaders to avoid the upcoming epicenter of cataclysm and listen to voices of reason for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, stop acceleration of military confrontations between Russia, NATO, America, the EU and others. At the edge of REASON, war is anti-human.

We, the People, wish to rejoice truth, not evil. We, the people of the globe possess understanding - how to change the egoistic and embittered insanity of the few hate-mongers and warlords into equilibrium of balanced relationship between Man, Life and God- given living Universe in which we reside all. If the G-7 leaders were proactive and men of REASON, they should have focused on a reasoned dialogue between Russia-Ukraine to end the war, not to extend the Crimes of War by all, against all.

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 12/2019.