Human Woes of the Current Age

The World Cup  distraction  from man's unkindness to man,  sadly for England supporters  did not last long.

On a serious note however, the lesson to be learned from history is that very rarely does any positive outcome materialise from the UK involving itself in wars  in other parts of the world.

Looking at the fightings killings and sadnesses  currently occurring in the Ukraine, these must be for those directly involved to resolve as best they can. I am no historian but Wold War I arguably had its origins in problems in the same part of the world. Millions of people then  died including many from the UK in WW1.

Probably far fewer deaths would have resulted if  the locals had been left to their own devices. That sounds harsh and simplistic but during the IRA troubles  20 or 30 years or so ago there were wrongdoings including killings by all concerned not excluding the UK government military and police, yet the Russians  did not intervene. Why should we intervene in the Ukraine tragedies?

A WWII situation where the war is virtually on our doorstep and/or where a meglomaniac had the intentions and the means to kill, bully and adversely  affect millions around the globe, was  then a fair exception but  today more surely  should be made of the UN and the international courts?

The Libyans did through Col. Gadaffi supply the IRA with arms but that/he is hardly the best precedent.   His arms supply probably caused  even more deaths but  with the benefit of hindsight had no advantages for anyone. One only has to look back at the Vietnam war - what did the Americans achieve by their hugely expensive in human lives as well as financial, involvement?' Nothing' is one answer to that question.

Even greater tragedies are unfolding in Iraq at present. One of the  helpers in my HCPT Group who  with her brothers  sister   nephews and niece hales from Baghdad,  became a UK citizen many years ago and lives nearby. Her sister still  lives in Iraq and her two uncles are catholic Archbishops there.

 Thankfully her Iraqi sister was in the UK for the wedding of their niece (also a former HCPT helper) a few days  back and the wedding mass was celebrated by their Iraqi Archbishop uncle.

 Thankfully also the Iraqi  sister's Visa to visit the UK which was only obtained with huge difficulty (the suspicion is that had she not been an Iraqi catholic the Visa would not have been so much of a problem) enabled her to travel here and just miss the current fighting. The Archbishop  had a Vatican passport and I gather that a second Archbishop uncle who could not obtain a visa for the wedding in time, is safe in the Kurdish part of Iraq.

 Of course for the ordinary men and women of Iraq the tragedies are huge and maybe worsening almost daily. Yet as the USA/UK Iraq involvement  in 2003 shows, even though the villain Saddham Hussein  was dealt with 'successfully', interference by non locals in dreadful local man-made situations hardly ever has a positive outcome for the  men women and children affected in the local tragedy.

One of the lessons surely is that however bad local tragedies may be, for 'The West' to become involved even for the right reasons whatever they are, increases the number of deaths and makes the local tragedy a far worse and larger international one to no one's advantage except that of those who kill.

Let our governments concentrate more of their efforts skill and  finance, on building up the UN to deal with such tragedies internationally.