Daily Times

Way back, a poem by Isaac Rosenberg surfaced. He was 28-years old when he died in World War I; “Snow is a strange word;

No ice or frost

Have asked of bud or bird

For winter’s cost.

Yet ice and frost and snow

From earth to sky

This summer land doth know,

No man knows why.

In all men’s hearts it is.

Some spirit old

Hath turned with malign kiss

Our lives to mould.

Red fangs have torn His face.

God’s blood is shed.

He mourns from His lone place

His children dead.

O! Ancient crimson curse!

Corrode, consume.

Give back this universe

Its pristine bloom.”

One clearly gets the idea upon reading the poem that all Rosenberg wanted was for the miseries of the war to end. All he desired was the pristine bloom of the humanity. To fight only to get over your troubles can not justify violence. Nothing can ever justify war.

When World War I ended, many people at the time may have thought that the bloodbath had ended. Men and women who lost their sons, daughters, friends and lovers to the war must have hoped that the world would never plunge into such darkness again.

Yes, a war definitely ends eventually, but one can never tell when the next war will begin. This is what exactly Plato meant when he said “Only the dead have seen the end of war”.

Anyone who is going to surrender critical thinking to jingoism is on a one way road to doom

The only alternative to war that exists logically is the renunciation of war and the resolution of conflict through negotiations. Thus, to never stop dialogue is the sole and best option to reach to a logical conclusion to any conflict.

This is especially true for nuclear armed states. Escalation can never be controlled through the use of nuclear weapons. Escalation is after all escalation, and using nuclear weapons would be the ultimate escalation. Herman Kahn, a very famous strategic theorist, always reminded us that crises, conflicts and wars may escalate. One of his famous theories is the Escalation Ladder Theory. Essentially, Kahn’s explains gradations of conflict, from “ostensible crisis” up 40 rungs to “spasm” thermonuclear war. Such a spasm is to be avoided, obviously. I am referring Kahn for he always wanted to think rationally about the unthinkable and he is also right in saying that scholars and leaders do have to think about the possible, not merely about the probable.

Given the escalated situation across the border between Pakistan and India and as said by Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, India must also give peace a chance. But unfortunately, his counterpart in India PM Narendra Modi is surrounded by war hawks.

Notwithstanding, at this point in time PM Modi ought to understand that war is too serious a business. Here I am reminded of what President Kennedy told his aide Dace Powers during the famous Cuban missile crisis whilst he was facing tremendous pressure from the generals, “These brass hats have one great advantage in their favour. If we listen to them, and we do what they want us to do, none of us will be alive later to tell them they were wrong.”

So, anyone who is going to surrender critical thinking to jingoism is on a one way road to doom.

To conclude, at this critical point in time neither India nor Pakistan should calculate nor miscalculate. Rather, they must appeal for peace to prevail. War is nothing but a reduction of humanity to a savage state.

The writer is an independent rsearcher

Published in Daily Times, March 6^th 2019.