Thursday, August 23, 2018

THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Global "Chess"

Very little of what’s actually going on in the world
appears in the headlines and broadcasts of the day.

Our contemporary hyper-information communications
environment renders virtually all global “facts,”
“statistics,” and most other data often disputable,
unverified and ambiguous.

Even photographic and filmed images are always
incomplete portraits of a full picture of the reality of
most events and circumstances --- easily distorted for
partisan purposes in the worldwide competitions of
political, economic and military interests.

At any given moment in history, past and present, there
is a complicated and multilateral chess match taking
place below the surface, behind closed public doors, and
out of communications range.

However daunting the above assertions make a public
comprehension of global events and affairs, these
difficulties or obstacles should not prevent anyone from
attempting to grasp a reasonable understanding of
what is happening in the world around them.

In our own time of international change and disruption,
with global and domestic news and information sources
screaming for attention and influence, it would seem, in
fact, almost necessary that as many persons as possible
should have a reasonably accurate and useful grasp of
the world around them.

To be very specific, the global interests of larger nations
such as the United States, China, India, Russia --- and
those of significant regions such as the Middle East,
Southeast Asia, and South America --- have entered a
new stage distinct from the period of only a few years
ago.

Certain facts are obvious, for example, the populations
and land masses of the larger nations --- and their
geographic locations. On the other hand, their strategic
interests, current conditions, hidden historical agendas,
and (as always) the personalities and ambitions of their
leaders are often much less visible.

Why is all this so important?

It is important because change and disruption inevitably
bring new real conditions in the world. The use of a
“chess” match analogy falls short in one very critical
aspect --- world affairs is not a game.  Human lives
and how they are lived are always at stake.

The history of the world is the history of nations,
regions and interests --- and how they adapt or fail to
adapt to the change around them. With the current
challenges to democratic and free market systems of
government and economy, it would seem necessary
that the most accurate and widest public understanding
of the world is the only way democratic government
and free markets can survive.

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Copyright (c) 2018 by Barry Casselman. All rights reserved.

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