The Moon Tonight: Thoughts About a "Quiet Death"
It is a brilliant moon tonight. Bright, against a dark cloudy sky. What a night for such a moon, for such a sky.
I am somber. There was another blog I wanted to write, but war is on my mind.
My country is at war
When the president of my country announced that six soldiers had died from a drone strike, at the beginning of this war, he summed up the event by saying, "There will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more."
That’s the way it is.
I listened to Pete Hegseth today, the Secretary of Defense (no, I won't use that new title). He is so proud. He is exultant.
A U.S. sub shot a torpedo at an Iranian warship. The Iranian craft fell into the sea, as did all the souls on board. How many died in the blast? How many were scooped out of the water? They are still counting bodies.
Do I care if these are Iranian bodies, or bodies of my own compatriots? Of course I want my compatriots to live, but I cannot rejoice at the death of anyone.
How did Hegseth describe this tragedy?
Yesterday in the Indian Ocean an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.
Quiet death, indeed.
It's a very tragic event. We are in tragic circumstances now.
He also said in another context:
Flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital, flying over the IRGC, Iranian leaders looking up and seeing only us and Israeli air power every minute of every day, until we decide it's over and Iran will be able to do nothing about it....Death and destruction from the sky, all day long.
Death and destruction from the sky, all day long.
And Iran will be able to do nothing about it.
Oh the chest thumping, the hubris. Further, he declares:
More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today, and now with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs...
Maybe it's me, but I hear those words and I am horrified. I think of the people under those bombs. I think of the dead, the wounded, the disfigured for life. Shopkeepers, children...anyone. This man, who represents my interests in the government, has no concern where those bombs will fall, who will be hit. Or maybe he does care. He seems to relish the ability to inflict pain, to hurt, to assert power.
Is war necessary? I don't know. Some wars, sometime, maybe. I don't know. I do know that if we unleash the terror of war, if we drop bombs on people, we should feel the weight of what we do.
My president seems to have a hunger for war now. He seems to have acquired a taste for sending airplanes to other lands and dropping bombs on people.
Maybe we should have let him keep those tariffs. They gave him the power over other people and other countries he craves.
I heard we bombed Ecuador today. I can't listen to more war. I'll find out what happened tomorrow.
Apparently, the only limit to our war-waging efforts is the amount of war-fighting machinery we have. Have no fear there. The president assured us that we have unlimited ammunition at our disposal. He's sitting down with representatives of the arms industry to find out how fast they can pump out more equipment. More guns. More bombs. More planes. More drones. More interceptors.
Trump and Hegseth aren't the first in my government to wage war. I've lived a long time. I lived through Vietnam and Korea. Back then we called a war a war. There were no nicknames. When was the first war that was given a cinematic name? Was it the first Gulf War, under George Bush I? Operation Desert Shield? Then Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom.
Leave it to this group, to the Trump/Hegseth war wagers to be epic. Not just epic, but furiously epic. Their war, the war I am paying for now, the war in which more U.S. soldiers will surely die, that war is called Operation Epic Fury.
I have no appetite for what is to come, for what has come in the last few days. War is horrifying enough, but men crowing over death and reveling in the power they have to inflict--this is too much for me.
So, when I saw the moon tonight I thought it expressed my state of mind perfectly. There was something ominous about that moon, surrounded completely by dark clouds. I wanted to share that moon, that mood and my profound dismay.
May the war end soon. May peace return to my country, and to those people in far off countries.
As always, I wish kindness and compassion would prevail here, and elsewhere in the world.
At least now Trump is looking more like a traditional Republican war hawk. That's a dark joke, what is happening is very dangerous and concerning. Hopefully something good comes out of this death and destruction...
Thank you for your comment.
I'm sorry, I cannot use the word 'good' in contemplating the horror that is occurring right now. I'm an old lady, but I feel I should be out there, in the streets.
The death and destruction in themselves are horrifying, but to see people reveling in it, to see people gleeful over suffering...I can't use the word 'good' anywhere around that.
I was speaking about the hope for a free and democratic Iran, though I have very strong doubts that the current administration is going to achieve that.
And yes, I am about to pay my taxes this year which is going to be more than average American earns in almost ten years and it makes me sick how much of those taxes are going to be spent on our military killing people...
I don't mean to be difficult. I understand you are hoping some good comes from the dreadful, but I can't do that. I can't mute the horror I feel. I will not see a silver lining in evil. That's what this is. Grandiose and ego-driven.
I very much appreciate your feedback. I appreciate your sympathy for the people who are suffering, but for me, in this moment there is no 'good'. I think in the days to come the horror will spread. I am certain it will come home, here, although my leaders feel immune. They will dismiss the terrorist acts that are sure to follow. They will dismiss that mass shooting in Austin. But as sure as I am writing this blog, it is all connected. It is all evil.
I'm so sorry to sound extreme, but I see no good in any of it.
What right does US/Israel have to bring that about, particularly as their interest in doing so is clearly about self interest? Netanhayahu is a psychopath and Trump's enabling him and everyone else will suffer. I doubht very much either of us are doing it for a democratic Iran. I feel sorry for US citizens who are forced to fund this even though it seems like nearly everyone I know on Hive is horrified at what is unfolding.
And some of the first victims were school girls. Maybe if we required all the fighting age sons and daughters of the Presidents, his cabinet and the Congress to serve on the front lines in these wars it would stop. Add too that a mandatory draft for the top millionaire and billionaire kids too. Then again, these hateful people probably don;t even care about their own children.
Those are the ones we know about. How many children do you think must have been killed, not just in Iran, but in the surrounding countries, in this ever-widening conflict. War is not particular in who it takes, although as you say the children of the powerful seem immune to its direct consequences.
This whole idea of a voluntary army reinforces the immunity of the rich. We go to war on the backs of people who need college money. People who can use the extra income for reserve duty. People who do not have career options.
Indeed if the children of the wealthy and powerful fought alongside everyone else, that might mute the appetite for war.
Thank you for your feedback. It is much appreciated.
New Year, but same old vision! Thank you for choosing to either use the #thoughtfuldailypost TAG, or post in our community! Keep on being thoughtful!
Thank you very much! When I have a rather thoughtful post that won't fit anywhere else, I remember this lovely community. Thank you for being here.
@agmoore...
I'm very your health has been poor, poorer than usual, even. It's so hard when our bodies betray us. I appreciate your feedback, particularly when you are contending with so many issues at home.
Feel better, soon, my friend @wesphilbin
YES,
WAR! TELL ME WHATS IT GOOD FOR.. :(
let's hope it ends soon.
Yes!!
what stun me is that your president can do whatever he wants, without even get an approval for congress... here nothing of this would be possible, you would need parlment to approve a war, and a war declaration
it's also weird how some politicians there speak about war as if it's a game... why? if you have to do it, do it quietly and dont go around saying crap, shut up...i'm sure churchill wasn't going on tv every day saying dumb stuff on hitler during ww2
My country is in crisis. Of course, there are people in this country who would describe circumstances here differently. They would say that a president acting without congressional authority is fine.
I do my best to express my opinion and point out the problems I see. That's all I can do...plus support policies and leaders who express my views.
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It should have been safe in international waters.
The US is out of control. Israel has been out of control for a couple years now. It's bloodlust. Most Americans have become inured to war in other places, and we tolerate this BS. Thank you for not being one of those.
Putting moral considerations aside (how can we do that?), this country is profoundly affected by the wars we wage. From the national debt, to waves of displaced people seeking safe harbor, to acts of terror--we are affected at home. Plus the erosion of constitutional provisions (eroded over many years)...all of this hits home.
It was cathartic to get this out, and reassuring to get confirming responses to this blog.
Exhaltant is a word that describes zealots. I can't believe it's turning into a Christian v Islam war, despite all it's dressings and guises - or maybe I can believe, as the signs have been there all along. I was reading how it was even pitched at military - this is all God's plan, and that Christ is coming through this armageddon - what the actual fuck. It's insane. How can you condemn the percieved zealotry of Shia and not turn the light inward to see it's own fanaticism? Maybe you understand it more - Australia doesn't have anywhere near the amount of religious fervour you see in the US.
It just makes me think that most of the world is occupied by absolute idiots. But then, trauma begets trauma - there's a whole tangent I could go down here. There will be no end to it. The moon will always rise, and people like us will be feeling it hard whilst others carry on their psychopathic missions, until this little planet spinning in space is devoid of life at all.
Zealots. Do not underestimate the influence of the religious right in the U. S. Without the religious right, Trump would never have been elected president. Huckabee, ambassador to Israel, has spoken about the desirability (From the Guardian) of Israel occupying most of the ME:
“Israel is a land that God gave, through Abraham, to a people that he chose. It was a people, a place and a purpose...It would be fine if they took it all...basically the entire Middle East...The Levant … Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon – it’d also be big parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq,”
Couple this zealotry with an outsized, perhaps cognitively compromised, president, and you have endless war.
Perhaps cognitively compromised? Of course he is. Anyone fighting this war has to be.
Since mister Trump was called out to do illegal things with his tariffs by the US Supreme Court, I suppose the war instrument is what he still has to show power. What is beyond me, is the goal for the US for this war. If this includes regime change, it is highly unlikely that this will happen. No mass revolt yet from the Irianian society. That in itself renders this war useless, I think. If the goal has something to do with nuclear and/or long rage rockets? This war is just a setback, and will need yet another war sometime in the future. Under such goals, is this war useless? Perhaps again: Yes. When not, we simply know another war is needed, and perhaps another one, and another one. Question to me is: How many countries will be defined as being a treat to the USA? About 200 countries in the world. How many will be put on the list of mister Trump? And what will be the mid to long term results of all of this? Tariffs shizzle is pushing the none-USA world into action to become self-sufficient, less to not dependent on USA anymore, including big tech. This will not help the USA, in fact, Big Tech will be earning less from outside the USA in the future. This will not happen overnight, but it'll happen.
Anyways, war in itself is so useless as we've seen so many times.
He has literally grown drunk on power. He doesn't look to the endgame (that is, what will the consequences be to country) but looks at his legacy, on how he will be remembered in the history books. He wants to make grand gestures. He wants to be on Mt. Rushmore. He wants his name splashed all over every monument in this country.
We are in a dangerous place. Not only do his actions bring death and destruction to many, but he is destroying our Constitution. I'm not sure this is a harm that can ever be undone. We will soon, I fear, be in the position of those people he is seeking to save, people who are now living under a dictator.
I am not an American. So, I should not say too much about your president, but I have my own opinions indeed. Not sure if it is Trump, or this was bound to happen anyway, even with another person in office. Other Presidents doing 'bad' things to the world outside public eyes. Trump is right in our face. Time will tell what will happen. I just hope not everything will be broken into pieces.
Oh Agmoore... you are a kind human being. Living in the wake of one war and the shadow of another here in Syria gives me a perspective that I will not try to express at this time. I will just wish you many serene moons in the future, ones that don't make you question the sky. 💗
Hello dear @grindan,
Please send my love to my friend @yaziris.
I wish that for all of us. It's a very scary world. Many, many bad actors. We have to speak up, speak out and try to do everything we can to resist the evil (I consider warmongering to be evil) in the world. It seems pointless to speak up, but I think we all look around to see what others are saying, what others are thinking. Each tiny voice I think (hope) adds to the weight of opposition to these horrible policies.
Be well, both of you, be safe there as you live "in the wake of one war and the shadow of another."
https://www.reddit.com/r/moon/comments/1s2ycxv/the_moon_tonight/
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