Posted 7/18/2025

There have been major escalations around the globe, exacerbating tensions between countries with nuclear arsenals. Reports indicate that China has been rehearsing the invasion of Taiwan as Russia has been bogged down in a three-plus-years war with aspirations of annexing Ukraine. Despite their recent peace agreement, India and Pakistan have a long history of conflict that President Trump thought might have spiraled into a nuclear conflict in a matter of weeks. The United States has been in continuous entanglements throughout the Middle East and in other parts of the world. North Korea is positioning itself as a staunch ally to Russia, having provided troops and munitions to their campaign, perhaps in hopes that there will be reciprocity in the future. Peace has always been delicate and it is so fragile in fact that a single assassination catapulted the globe into the first world war. Greed and ruthless ambition, masterminded by a maniac, drove Germany to invade Poland causing the next, bloodier world war. It's Deja vu as certain individuals and their ideologies align to separate the people of the earth into two factions; the alliance formed by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and friends dubbed the "Axis of Upheaval" - the NATO nations, which include the United States. The Germans and their allies, Japan, Italy, and others, were called the "Axis Powers" during World War II. President George W. Bush referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "Axis of Evil." There has been a dualism permeating through most aspects of our lives for the perpetuity of our existence: Good vs. evil, night and day, rich and poor, Yin vs. Yang, Apple vs. Android, you get the idea. It seems as though we're being pitted against one another but the people not involved in the decision-making processes leading to wars are oftentimes the ones dying. This year alone, in actions widely considered provocative, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns in the Gaza Strip, as well as strikes in Syria and Iran. President Trump promised to be a peacemaker but has aided Israel monetarily and militarily, possibly making the U.S. complicit in actions that some international bodies and human rights organizations have viewed as war crimes. On another front, the Trump Administration is imposing additional tariffs on Russia and sending more cruise missiles to Ukraine which prompted a statement from former Russian President Medvedev saying that Russia needs to consider preemptive strikes. Russia may feel some sense of desperation finding the Ukrainians more formidable than they anticipated. There are few voices of sanity coming from our representatives in government despite the number of people that are protesting in the streets.