The horror of war is only ever equivocable to its absurdity. As much as we must negotiate and navigate such catastrophes where and when they occur, I am uncertain that our collaborative historical analyses provide much more than a resonant disincentive to engage with and enter into the wars that appear to be as inevitable as they are regrettable. We are well versed in the wistful retrospect of accurate and eloquent historical analyses, and for all of which we should be very grateful, but we remain equally unable to effectively interdict the eternal return of these brutal dictators and all their attendant ideological pathologies.
My contention, quite far beyond (and yet inflected by) Vladimir Putin’s monumental strategic ineptitude, is that we are well versed in the construction of interpretive frameworks around what has happened and what is currently happening but I wonder where we might find the technologies of predictive interdiction and complexity management with which we might seek to disentangle these problematic futures before they even begin forming.
The only reason we need smart weapons is because we are collectively and as a species not clever enough to stop fighting wars. Are we similarly so endemically oriented towards the psychological as cultural or narrative traumas and injustices of history as percolating entropies of fear and suffering that we can not see beyond them to a more peaceful world? This may represent an unresolvable enigma because plausible solutions are a function of the gestalt systemic complexity and conspicuously absent global unity that forever lies, unknown, just beyond the boundaries of thought, language and knowledge.
Freedom and democracy absolutely must be defended but how can we do so without simply, unwittingly and serially reproducing a world in which tyrants endlessly oscillate as dissonant signals in all the noise? Any fool can start a war but it takes authentic talent to cultivate and sustain a peace.
Daedelus Kite 
One reply on “Putin dreams of Stalingrad”
I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that it takes authentic talent to cultivate and sustain peace. It is too easy to react thoughtlessly to real or perceived events. The Ozymandias poem is one of those mantras to remind me of how the tyrant is only a king to itself and that it feeds on itself as if an ouroboros, that if put into action without an incredible amount of care, can speed up the process of decay of the great works and structures that even itself or others have worked tirelessly to cultivate, self-reflection without rushing to conclusions and the ability to listen to opinions that may not align with your world view and allowing some movement in ridged process can help turn that iron fist into a gentle helping hand. Thank you for bringing to light the foolishness of war. It’s time we all start trying to proliferate peace as best we can.
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