What concerns me is that if the wrong side wins some very lethal weapons may end up in the hands of those who might give them to terrorists to attack Israel, nations in Europe or our own nation. Of course I should point out that to me the use of these weapons against innocent civilians in Syria is also just as unacceptable.
Of course it could be argued that if your enemies are busy killing each other it is wise to not intervene.
Perhaps the best solution is for the UN to step in and take control of the weapons of mass murder. Perhaps it would have been far better if the UN had been set up to take action in such a situation despite the opposition by nations such as Russia and China. Perhaps the UN should be the only military force in the world to have access to WMDs and a large enough military force to take on any nation in the world.
But if the UN actually had that power, I wonder if it is possible that it might become a world dictatorship? Would it have the power to tax and confiscate the wealth in the well to do nations and transfer it to the poorer nations? Would corruption in the UN cause the transfer of wealth to flow to certain favored people and not to help truly impoverished people? Would the taxation of the wealthy in the more advanced nations stifle technological advancements and limit the advance of our civilization?
But for our civilization to survive we need to find a way to control WMDs before we destroy all that we have accomplished in our short history.
I personally feel that we are not the only intelligent civilization in our galaxy and that a few have been able to move beyond their home planet and to populate near stars or even more. We are currently in a testing phase. If we can find a way to rein in our basic instinct for warfare, we may spread through our solar system and also reach the near stars. If we fail and misuse the technology we have developed we will, at the best, have to start all over again.
The universe is a very violent environment. One large rock can totally destroy us or if a volcanic caldera such as exists under Yellowstone has a massive eruption our civilization will suffer a significant setback. A civilizations time to develope the technology to leave its planet is limited. Warfare is a great driver for technological advancement and so probably most successful civilizations have probably had to overcome the same base instincts that we have.
Can we find a way to overcome our innate personality and learn how to get along with each other before we destroy ourselves or a natural catastrophe ruins our planet?
I have to admit that I am pessimistic.
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