Episode 17: We Are Tired of Perma-Wars

People are tired of the seemingly permanent state of warfare. Where is diplomacy? Where is that person like Dag Hammarskjöld who will advocate for finding common ground rather than rushing to hit the war button??

 #DagHammarskjöld #DecodingTheUnicorn #PermaWarFatigue #PeaceIsPower #NoMoreEndlessWars #diplomacy #diplomacymatters

Transcript

Transcription by Otter. ai.  Please forgive any typos!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

US bombing, Iran nuclear sites, counter strikes, regime change, warfare, diplomacy, national debt, weapons manufacturers, Dag Hammarskjöld, preventive diplomacy, war hawks, peace, legacy, podcast episode.

Welcome to the Decoding the Unicorn podcast. Here's your host, Sara Causey.

Hello, Hello and thanks for tuning in. Welcome to Episode 17 of decoding the unicorn the podcast. What I had intended to talk about in today's episode and what I will be talking about are two different things, primarily because of the news cycle. I'm not going to give you an intro and go into a little promo bumper and then the regular episode, as I have been doing, I'm just going to speak from the heart a little bit for a few minutes, because I'm just, I think, like so many Americans, probably so many other people in the world, just tired, just so burned out on a permanent state of warfare, a permanent state of Emergency. It's like, oh God, here we go again. As far as I know, sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, the US bombed three sites in Iran what our media is telling us is that they were three Iranian nuclear sites. Then today, I'm recording this on Monday, June 23 in the afternoon today, the breaking news is that there has now been counter strikes from Iran on a US base in Qatar and Trump is talking about regime change. And I'm like, Oh, my God, this, you know, you just have to assume that this is probably not going to end. Well, it's probably not going to, hmm, de materialize. It's probably going to metastasize. I hope not, and I pray not. But, you know, I just had a headache, even talking about it, even thinking about it, who's going to retaliate? What's next? Tit for tat? And one of the things that I was thinking about, I was getting glass of water, and I was about to sit down and hook up the microphone, and I just thought, Where are the Dags? Where are the people who fly into danger, like, where is at least one Dag Hammarskjöld in modernity? Do we have such a thing like anywhere? Somebody that when everybody else is like, oh, it's doomed. There's no common ground. There's no room to negotiate. Diplomacy just wouldn't work here. Where's the person that will say, well, let's make it work. Let's find that common ground. Let's not immediately push the war button. What can we do to talk this through when everybody else is flying out, somebody like Dag is flying in, saying, I will go to the war zone. I will put my own life on the line, if that's what it takes for the cause of peace. Do we have anybody like that in the modern world? And no, that's not really a rhetorical question. I mean, where, where is that person I'm going to read now from the final little bit in decoding the unicorn that I have titled My Author's Epilogue. Quiet diplomacy didn't solve every problem. Preventive diplomacy didn't avert every crisis. Dag was only one person, and though he seemed indefatigable at times, he wasn't super human. The web of power that disturbed Dag so deeply has not vanished. I would argue that it's stronger than ever, and many organizations that started with noble goals have been co opted. It also seems that diplomacy, in general, let alone calm, discrete, diplomacy is not even the first choice. War Hawks of varying political parties and affiliations are awfully keen to call for hot warfare at even the slightest hint of conflict, one hostility blends into another as reams of fiat currency are printed to fund it, all further, driving up national debts and devaluing money. Lest this sound like a downhill roll into total pessimism, it's not even when weary and aggravated Dag wouldn't want a book dedicated to him to end on a sour note. I can almost hear him saying, No sackcloth and ashes, dear. I couldn't help but remember my own writing, I was like, Where, where are the diplomats? Why is it that diplomacy is not even the frontline solution anymore, let alone calm discrete diplomacy? I feel like so many we don't want this. We don't want. Warfare. We want peace. We don't want national debt being driven up to finance another war. We don't want soldiers going off, losing their lives. We don't want to sit back while the weapons manufacturers get filthy rich off yet another senseless war. It's just, when does it end? When does it ever end? I'm trying to think of something optimistic to end this very short episode on. And I guess it would be that we can look at the life and legacy of somebody like Dag and absolutely see that there is a better way and there is a better choice. We don't have to listen to the war hawks and we don't have to go along with their agenda. Stay safe, take good care of yourself, and I will see you in the next episode.

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