Avoid escalation

This is with reference to the report that about 10,000 to 12,000 North Korean troops may be fighting for Russia in the war with Ukraine. This could lead to an escalation in the war zone. Hitherto, Western nations had refrained from sending troops to Ukraine to fight. However, if North Korea sends its troops, countries like France could also volunteer their soldiers.

These actions will not contribute to a settlement. If the world does not act now to ensure peace in the Russian-Ukraine area, we could hurtle towards a major escalation and a possible world war. The United Nations, which was created after World War II, to prevent such conflagrations, is proving ineffective.

To exacerbate matters, high inflation across the globe is keeping people hungry and impoverished. Unemployment is augmenting in African and Asian countries.

However, guns boom in many countries. War is an absolute waste of human lives. It is an attrition of economic resources. Moneys are spent on bullets and guns, instead of schools and hospitals. All war is a failure of human intelligence and wisdom. Leaders are elected to prevent wars, not to engage in them or fan them.

A World War with nuclear weapons would be catastrophic. It could end the human race. There would be no survivors. The world could become a flaming funeral pyre. We should not be cavalier about the dangers of a nuclear war.

Rajendra Aneja,

By email