The Stupidity of Intimidation

- Stupid is as stupid does.

- Forrest Gump

The past two weeks have had too many incidents in the world where intimidation has been used without the thought of its danger. If one were to breakdown the global to the individual, you can see my point.

A wife has been repeatedly abused by her husband. They separate. She gets a gun for protection. He enters her home. She tells him to leave. He doesn't. She takes out her gun to convince him. There is a moment of indecision. However, her finger is on the trigger. The intimidation is on hold, when suddenly, the gun fires. In the police report, she says she didn't mean to pull the trigger. The gun just went off!

In another report in the news, a child was shot and killed by a stray bullet. Two rivals were shooting at each other, not intending to kill, but to intimidate. In the police report, the suspect said that he didn't mean it. It was an accident.

I think you get the point. However, when powerful rivals with nuclear capability go at it, the stakes of intimidation could be catastrophic. If one were to connect recent news items, the picture gets scary.

Doomsday Clock

I think it just moved to one minute to twelve. We need a world daylight saving time by pushing the clock back by one hour or it is all over!?!

China celebrates the Communist Party. The leader, Xi, declares that China must unify the nation. He refers to Taiwan. Then, in a show of force and intimidation, China flies jet fighters and bombers on the border of Taiwan's air space. A high official declares, "That no one can stop China." Then, China joins Russia in a joint military exercise.

Not to be intimidated by the joint military exercises of China and Russia, India sends 50,000 troops to the Tibetan border. 

The Japanese delegate to the US says that he fears that China and Russia will attack Hawaii. Maybe, Japan is looking for conviction with its alley, the US against the Communist rivals? Later in the same week, Japan joins the Philippines in a dual military exercise. Maybe, they seek to secure another alley under the same objective? Then, deputy prime minister, Taro Aso says that Japan will defend Taiwan if it attacked. Japan will back the US against any aggression from China over Taiwan. This is choosing sides and daring the opposition. Not good by either side.

In what may not appear as related, but I feel is definitely related was the US report on UFOs. Apparently, US security fliers have noticed strange, hypersonic speed UFOs off our coast. At the same time, Russia announces that they have "conquered" hypersonic. This means that they are more advanced than the US and West in airspeed. It is not the first time. Russia has many air records like the first nation in space, Sputnik. Those are not aliens flying off our coasts, but Russian drones. If they can fly faster than our defense, they could drop nuclear bombs on us, Intimidation!

Then, a Russian ship fires at an English ship in the Black Sea. Intimidation!

NATO and Ukraine conduct joint exercises in the same region. Provocation? Intimidation?

President Putin says that even if the English ship was sunk that would not start WWIII. What if the next time, an ego driven officer decides to hit a ship? What if an ego driven officer decides to respond by sinking the intimidating vessel? What police report can prevent a nuclear strike? Hands on a trigger can lead to the gun firing. 

Then, another thing that might not appear as related, but Sebastian feels is definitely related. It is hacking. Hacking gets news as a crime act for money under ransomware. The US asks Russia to look into the matter. Why waste your time? When you ask any Communist nation or rival to look into something that is causing the West harm, there is never any positive or long lasting results.  The best prove is North Korea building nuclear weapons. 

What if these hackers are given government protection and the rewards are split? US sanctions on Russia makes it hard to get greenbacks. Hackers get dollars.

Just last week another serious hack to a Miami firm software firm will have serious repercussions. By attacking the central spine of the firm, the hackers changed the firm's software. The number of businesses will be in the hundreds who will suffer from ransomware. Taking this further, what if these hackers strike everywhere, all at once? Our nation comes to a halt. Nuclear hypersonic drones destroy cities. It appears all is lost for the US except ICBMs destroy Russia, China and North Korea. What is left? The world is already suffering from abuse, pollution, global warming and neglect. Radiation will make unusable the bread basket of the world. Whatever is left of live, it won't be livable.

The arms race was the original intimidation factor, but at least, it did keep the peace. China is also building its own space station. They intend to control the high ground. We better build a new network that is virus and hack free because the writing is on the subway walls with China's "Compliance Issue." Until man learns to live and let live, there is no such thing as Independence Day. Forrest Gump said it best, "Stupid is as stupid does." and "That's all I got to say about that."   Peace.