War is just another Bullshit Industry, Waste of Precious Global Energy
Highlighting the disastrous impact of War, on the Global Environmental Problem
Acknowledgement
Firstly, to the ordinary people suffering in Ukraine, my prayers are with you, I hope there is a very quick resolution, with minimal loss and suffering.
It isn’t fair that we have not had enough collective regard for humanity to protect the people of Ukraine, simply because life is sacred, no matter who’s, or what’s.
Somehow, we’ve become de-sensitised, and failed by that alone to save people dying, in many parts of the world, as well as in Ukraine.
Learning
That said, all we can and should do for now, for the sake of the ordinary folk in Ukraine, and for most of us, is watch in horror, and try to learn from it.
Everyone had their own opinions, some well informed, others not so much so, on the reasons for why this war in Ukraine started.
It doesn’t really matter.
The last thing we need is “Revenge Capitalism”, as described by Max Haiven.
What matters is that we all see the damage it is doing now, to all of humanity.
We need to find the best way to stop it quickly before too much more harm is done.
This war is happening in the context of a global energy shortage. In fact it is all about energy, or the perceived shortage of it, as far as I can see.
So we should all watch carefully, every step, blow by blow, observing the effects on energy.
Bullshit Industry
To recap, Bullshit industry, is any industry employing folk in “Bullshit Jobs”, as described by the late David Graeber.
Do most soldiers really want to be fighting in a war?
From what we’ve seen, of how most war vets fare back in the civilian world, not really, if we are honest, not after all is said and done. Most admit they never really wanted to do it, deep down.
There are a few, who transition back to civy-street apparently successfully, carrying on careers in defence related Engineering, for example, but I know having worked amongst them, and having some good friends amongst them, that most are pretty critical about how things were, and are still handled by those in power.
So war is just another Bullshit Industry, employing a stack of people in Bullshit Jobs.
Energy
How much wasted energy are we talking?
It is almost completely powered by Fossil Fuels, of some kind or another.
And we know usage of those remaining is limited, not only by the fact that one day they will run out, but far more seriously, we are seeing an exponential rise in global temperature, as a result of vastly increased CO2 and other heat capturing gases in the atmosphere, all around the world.
So actually every litre used, every KWh expended in that war, is another litre gone, another a KWh removed from the amount available.
Imagine, how much solar infrastructure that energy could have created.
To get an idea how much is lost, we need to try to look at the more major events one by one. Unfortunately this can’t be done without acknowledging some politically uncomfortable truths. But we have to do it towards the good of our whole species, as opposed to just good for one side or another.
As we’ve seen, we can’t survive as a species, if always one side has to profit at the cost of the other. The key is we must generate value as a combination, not fight one another to last man standing.
Sequence of Events
- Putin builds up an estimated 150,000 troops and supporting hardware including tanks, trucks, and all manner of heavy weapons on the border with Ukraine.
- He then carries out military drills with the built up forces.
- Then he builds up further troops in Belarus, and carries out joint military drills there, combined with Belarus forces.
- The West responds by sending hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of weapons to the Nationalists in Ukraine.
- Putin invades, pouring in all of the forces from Belarus, and those built up on the Russian — Ukrainian border, and also more from Crimea in the South.
What happens next is anyone’s guess, but we should think of the energy being removed from the pile of available resources, with every move, and we should be looking to limit that.
The best outcome, to minimise loss of most precious irreplaceable lives, and irreplacable energy, which affects all of us, is for the fighting to end immediately.
We obviously don’t end a fire by throwing petrol onto it, so why should we expect additional weapons added to a war will end it sooner? Oviously it won’t, it is outrageously illogical to claim otherwise.
What seems to have been little known, is that there was already a micro-war going on between the Nationalists, and Russian Separatists, for the past eight years, since the tragic events of the Maidan.
So we were already pouring petrol on the fire, when we poured weapons into the hands of the Nationalists. Did we arm both sides in Ukraine? Nope, only one, the side with arguably the history and culture of genocide, the side of the reputedly Neo-Nazi Asov Battalion.
What would we in the UK have done, if the US poured weapons into the Nationalist forces of the IRA, after we’d built up the forces to invade Ireland during the troubles there?
We’d have used that built up massive force, to invade the Nationalists and disarm as necessary, before they could train up on the weapons, to avoid what we know would have been a certain massacre of Unionists, just as Putin has done.
So how do we now limit the damage, both to lives and energy?
We have to stop pouring weapons in. Stop pouring petrol on the fire. The truth is Putin is holding all the aces, and further weapons will prolong the fighting, costing unnecessary lives.
It is probably true he should not have pre-empted things by building up the forces that caused alarm, but we should not have reacted by pouring in weapons to the opposition, that was incredibly stupid. We should have known better.
So, that said, what are the costs to date?
No-one really knows. The estimates I’ve been able to find for the amount of hardware sent to Ukraine varies hugely. 180 tons was reported from the US on 23rd of February, probably more since. Add to that hardware and troops from the UK, and many other countries.
By the time I am able to research enough to put some numbers on things, it will have moved on.
So, right now, best to keep watching, and keep taking notes, because this effort, to kill one another in Ukraine, could be the last we ever make, as a species.
