May you live in interesting times
In 1933, the year I was born, the world was deep in crisis and the worst war in human history waited around the corner.
All of which, of course, I didn't know. Neither did I know, nor care about, the fact that my mom and dad had to work very hard to put food—such as it was—on the table. We didn't starve I was later told, but we didn't feast either. Indeed, things didn't improve much until 1945, when I was 12 years old and (more importantly) Hitler was dead.
The reason I came to think of 1933 and the period following it is that we have worked ourselves into a crisis once more. Or maybe I should say two crises.
First there is, of course, Iran. It seems more or less certain that the fanatic priests who run that unhappy country are well on their way to producing an atomic bomb. They deny it, of course, and some western experts believe them. I don't, which is not so important, but many experts, not the least in Israel, are convinced that deep down in the mountains not too far from Tehran, bombs are being prepared and made ready. Are they defensive or offensive? I say big deal—for the reason that Israel's leaders can not sit idle and wait. They simply must take it for granted that the bombs will be used to destroy the Jewish state (which is very small and thus very vulnerable).
So the Israelis will have to act, and in my opinion they must do so sooner rather than later. I am sure they will use their own nukes and I am sure the conflagration will take monumental proportions.
The second crisis we are in is economic. Europe is sick, and in many ways so is the U.S. The general standard of living has improved since the 1930s, of course, but there are still millions of poor people and millions of unemployed. The world is simply not functioning well and people are unhappy and—more and more—scared. This goes for Russia, too: corrupt, badly run and therefore dangerous. All in all, the ongoing crisis might well be as serious as the one in the beginning of the 30s. Society is better organized now, but that doesn’t preclude real hardship being felt from Sweden to Italy, from Portugal to Poland. As for the political leaders, so far they have malfunctioned and I dare not be optimistic.
Add then there's the upheaval in the Arab world, most violently in Syria. The murdering—the word one must use—continues, and the UN as well as the EU and the U.S. are paper tigers. It is maybe not too hard to understand why: A military operation would be very,very costly in men and money and nobody wants to try. It should be noted that China and Russia are very opposed to intervention, cynically hoping that the situation will hurt the western powers and particularly, of course, the United States.
So what we see is a world in grave crises. A world war of the 1939 through 1945 kind we will most likely not have to experience. Rather the economic crisis will continue and deepen, and smaller wars will almost certainly be fought.
Which reminds me of the Roman (was it?) or Chinese curse:
"May you live in interesting times.…"
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World Reporter
Ulf Nilson, World reporter since his first assignments to Hungary in 1956. Correspondent and Sweden’s man in America for 20 years, Ulf Nilson is still a regular columnist in Sweden’s daily Expressen, and regular contributor in Nordstjernan. He has authored or co-authored over fifty books. He lives in southern France or at his beloved Värmdö, just 30 minutes north of Stockholm. He
• covered the US, including Vietnam during the war years
• marched in the civil rights marches
• interviewed Martin Luther King
• met presidents Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and George H. W. Bush
• and, as one of Sweden’s most well-known journalists, also met with every politician, industry leader or cultural personality—all the movers and shakers of Sweden through five decades of a proliferate professional life.
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