On Russians, Muslims, and modern warfare
Yesterday I was listening to Sting's classic song (yes, classic: I was born in 1977 and my father was a Sting / Police fan in the early eighties, so everything Sting did up to the year 2000 is canonical rock history, right?) Russians and it struck me how little the world has changed in some respects... and how much in some others. This song, about the futility of Cold War and the hoarding of nuclear weapons, was released in 1985, twenty years ago and four years before the end of the Cold War. Back then, I was old enough to watch the news but not old enough to understand much of what had gone on in the previous thirty years. The central issue was that we on the West side of the divide seriously believed that if one day, the American or the Russian president woke up in the wrong kind of mood, a bomb would make us all burst in the air in little bits. We also thought that the rulers on our side of the divide took the matter too seriously and that it was just not possible that the people at the other side was as monstruous as the media sometimes presented them. I have no idea of how normal people felt in the UK or in North America, but I guess their view were a little more polarised and less sympathetic to Russians than ours.
Let's jump to 2006. We have even scarier worries than the nuclear bomb, at least to me. A nuclear bomb would come with some sort of warning, but the current version of the cold war, the absurd war between some practitioners of Islam and Western countries, has taken the form of a constant threat of terrorism, coming without warning, and attacking the most vulnerable and powerless people with the intention of intimidating the powerful. Shockingly useless.
I think there is hope because the biggest difference between the Cold War, 1945-1989, and the War on Terrorism, 2001-present, is that in the 21st century there are lots of people on both sides of the divide with a serious interest on the other side's culture. Twenty or thirty years ago it would have been hard to show an interest in Russian culture in the West, and doing so would have been a brave political act; nowadays, at least in some circles, we can talk about many fascinating cultural aspects of Islam and Islamic countries. That much we have learnt.
"Russians"
In Europe and America, there's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie that we don't believe anymore
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is that the Russians love their children too.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ayer iba yo conduciendo y escuchando el clásico de Sting (sí, clásico: nací en el 77 y mi padre era fan de Sting y de The Police así que todo lo que hiciera Sting hasta el 2000 más o menos es historia del Rock, ¿está claro?) “Russians”, y me llamó la atención lo poco que el mundo ha cambiado en unas cosas, y cuánto en otras. Esta canción, sobre la inutilidad de la Guerra Fría y de los arsenales nucleares, es del 85: hace 20 años, y cuatro antes del fin de la Guerra Fría. Por entonces yo tenía edad de ver las noticias, pero no era lo bastante mayor para poder entender casi nada de lo ocurrido los treinta o cuarenta años anteriores. El problema central parecía ser que los que estábamos al Oeste de la raya creíamos que si el presidente ruso o el americano se levantaban por el lado malo de la cama, una bomba nos haría estallar a todos en cachitos. También creíamos que nuestros gobernantes se tomaban las cosas demasiado en serio y que no era posible que la gente del otro lado de la raya fuera tan terrible como nos la pintaban. No tengo ni idea de cómo se sentía la gente normal en el Reino Unido o en Norteamérica, pero supongo que sus opiniones eran un poco más extremas y menos interesadas en los rusos que las nuestras.
Salto a 2006. Tenemos problemas que a mí al menos me dan más miedo que la bomba atómica. Una bomba nuclear nos imaginamos que vendría con alguna clase de aviso, y la destrucción sería completa e inevitable. En cambio, la situación que tenemos, en forma de una amenaza constante de terrorismo, viene a atacar a las personas más vulnerables y sin poder alguno, con el fin de intimidar a quienes sí tienen poder. Absurdo, inútil.
Sin embargo, creo que hay esperanza porque la mayor diferencia entre la Guerra Fría, 1945-1989, y la Guerra Contra el Terrorismo, 2001-presente, es que en el siglo XIX hay mucha gente a ambos lados de la Raya con un interés serio en la cultura del otro lado. Hace veinte o treinta años habría sido peligroso mostrar un gran interés en la cultura rusa. Hoy día, al menos en algunos círculos, podemos hablar de muchos aspectos fascinantes de la cultura relacionada con el islamismo y los países islámicos. Es una mejora.
2 comentarios
Nia -
JoseAngel -