Bits and Pieces

The Unemployed College Grad: the twenty-something (or worse, 30-something) who claims his/her college degree was a mistake because they are now unemployed, does not tug at my heart strings. Why? Because they should have been more engaged back when they chose the major of their degree study.

I work with budding entrepreneurs today, but even back in my youth I easily recognized what was good or bad in the economy, what was needed, what products and services should make a good market anchor. That sort of thing. Are the degree complainers of today saying they did not know to pay attention back then? Why was that?

Change is the universal theme of all social orders. Period. Learning to live with that change is the ‘occupation’ we all must deal with. Some make fabulous livings from this work. Others play supporting roles in management specialties learned over time.

The degree did not teach a vocation. It taught students to think and adapt. Some I guess didn’t get that lesson!

World View Emergent: Ukraine today, Belarus tomorrow. Or one of many other nations in the orbit of Russia’s border. Who will Putin select next? And what will the world do about it?

The Crimean take over was painless and automatic. That should have taught us what Putin was up to. Since then, it is very clear that he intends to enlarge Russia’s hegemony over a large territory and control the social orders within it. Does this echo of USSR? It should; that is what Putin is doing. He is embarrassed by the demise of the USSR. He felt shame. He wants to revenge that history by replacing it with a re-emergent Russian history. That is his answer to our question.

But the real question is what is the world community going to do about it? This is a clear and present danger to all peace-loving nations. Putin and his native land are not the only ones. Scan the United Nations member list and you will identify several other players with an overzealous land grab mindset. China is one. Burma is another. Middle Eastern nations have been juggling their borders for years. Same in Africa.

Crimea was a mere warning. But now? No; the challenge is ever present. Time to hitch our wagons and start working with the world community to control the potential horrors of World War III.

Appropriate Response: And what should be that response? War? Formal treaty organizations expanded and beefed up? How about sharing defensive military weapons? Or creating an international tribunal that settles these disputes and eruptions of bad behavior? Oh, that’s right, we have the United Nations for that. But that gentleman’s club is too polite to take action. Especially meaningful action.

Russia does not now have a case for what it is doing; never did have a case for it. What is the world community to do about it? What would work now that would make for peace, and avoid breaking the peace in the next few years?

I have always had faith in the UN charter. I do not always have enduring faith in its leadership. Their work is tough but not impossible. What now do we expect from them? And if they do not deliver, what should peace loving nations the world over do about it?

This is not an empty question. It is The Question of our time. So what is our answer?

April 11, 2022



 

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