The End of Civilization

The probability of a global war between nuclear powers is not high,
because that would mean the end of civilization.
Vladimir Putin, prime minister of Russia (February 2012)
Putin was elected Russian president in March 2012.

The leaders of other nations do not make a habit of communicating to the citizens of the United States on the op-ed pages of their newspapers but when they do, they are rarely as candid and revealing as the thoughts expressed in the column we are about to look at. A fearful American false self is still projecting its collective shadow on the Russians. In the following essay we can clearly see that President Vladimir Putin has some shadow material of his own to project.

During the Cold War (the standoff between two nuclear powers, the USSRand the United States) the threat of the end of civilization acted as a deterrent and kept the two superpowers from mutual self-destruction. And yet, as we read Vladimir Putin’s column in The Denver Post we see evidence of a fear-driven false self, fear of the other, and shadow projection; troublesome elements that determine human behavior. The collective false self is perhaps not as predictable as Putin seems to think, particularly when humanity and world leaders have little awareness of these aspects of human behavior.

As we examine Putin’s thinking, those of us familiar with Simple Reality can see the self-destructive aspects of P-B consciousness. “In a world of upheaval, there is always the temptation to resolve one’s problems at another’s expense, through pressure and force.”  Has the U.S. put pressure on Russia to “democratize?” Has the U.S. used force in the Middle East to protect our supplies of oil? Has the U.S. urged Russia, at considerable expense, to curtail lucrative trade relations with our “problem” enemies likeIran? Putin’s reaction toU.S. foreign policy is understandable and perhaps justified—but both sides in a conflict have always been able to find a reasonable justification for self-defense.

I assume Putin’s foreign policy message was published in newspapers other than in the U.S. but we can see how he could be projecting some shadow material upon the U.S. and we certainly do the same thing in vilifyingRussia. Putin is raising the ante in the global poker game with projections aimed at theU.S., always a preliminary behavior to violence.

“We see ever new regional and local wars breaking out. We see new areas of instability and deliberately managed chaos. There also are attempts to provoke such conflicts even close to Russia’s and its allies’ borders.”  The U.S. has been guilty of deliberately managed chaos on Russia’s borders, for example, when the C.I.A. engineered the overthrow of Iran’s democratic government and could also be seen as having something to do with conflicts in Iraq, and Afghanistan.

From Putin’s perspective, because of U.S. behavior, “basic principles of international law are being degraded and eroded, especially in terms of international security.”  Because the U.S. sees Russia as the other, rational communication and lack of trust have caused the failure of diplomacy. “Under these circumstances, Russia cannot rely on diplomatic and economic methods alone to resolve conflicts.”

Ignorance and arrogance on the part of theU.S.combined with Putin’s paranoia are effectively resuscitating the Cold War and we may again be facing the end of civilization. “We are being pushed into action by theU.S.and NATO missile defense policies. A global balance of forces can be guaranteed … by developing the ability to overcome any missile defense system and protectRussia’s retaliation potential. Russia’s military and technical response to the U.S. global missile defense system and its European section will be effective and asymmetrical.”  In other words, the missile race is on and we are determined to have more than you have.

“We must rely on the very latest developments in the art of war. Falling behind means becoming vulnerable. It means putting our country and our lives of our soldiers at risk.”  Even though those are Putin’s words, we can expect the same sentiments to be expressed in the coming U.S. presidential election. Pandering to the fear of both Russians and Americans always produces effective campaign slogans.

For example, the latest presidential campaign produced the following quotes in Eugene Robinson’s column. Mitt Romney’s “description ofRussiaas ‘without question our number-one geopolitical foe’ was bizarre, but I don’t think it was accidental. Romney seems to be itching to wage a Cold War, and if one doesn’t exist, he’ll invent one—with Russia, China, somebody.”

One of the volatile areas of the world where we can see the projection of the collective shadow is theMiddle East. For example, the collective shadows in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are engaged in a deadly dance that has repercussions around the world.

“Can anyone look at what is happening—Palestinians, gripped by a collective madness committing suicide, and Israelis, under a leadership completely adrift, building more settlements so that fanatical Jews can live in the heart of Palestinian-populated areas—and not conclude the following: These two nations are locked in an utterly self-destructive and vicious cycle that threatens Israel’s long-term viability, poisons America’s image in the Middle East, undermines any hope for a Palestinian state and weakens Pro-American Arab moderates.” Thomas Friedman wrote that paragraph in 2002, ten years ago.

Substitute the name of Benjamin Netanyahu for Ariel Sharon, Obama for Bush and the lack of progress would make all of the news reports although ten years apart seem identical. One thing we can count on, although it might not be visible, is that the collective shadows in the region are getting darker, more explosive.

Friedman called the American policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict insane. He failed to realize that insanity in P-B is universal; it is global with roughly seven billion individual shadows engaged in projection with thousands of collective shadows congealing with fear and anger. Does the unpredictable shadow, the fearful false self and the tendency to project that fear and that shadow on the other threaten the end of civilization? Of course it does.

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References and notes are available for this essay.
Find a much more in-depth discussion in books by Roy Charles Henry:
Where Am I?  The First Great Question Concerning the Nature of Reality
Simple Reality: The Key to Serenity and Survival