'Grandiose' plans for a 'grandiose' threat

Julius Caesar said in the year 47 BC: Vini, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). Many, many years have passed since then. One would assume that a mentality from the year 47 BC is outdated in the 21st century, and that the world leaders of today should have a different kind of philosophy in their minds.

Wrong. Reading the latest international news makes me think that there is something wrong with some of the individuals who are actually ruling nations. It looks that the well-being of societies is not a priority anymore in the minds of some leaders, so they are turning towards twisted thoughts and ideas that they could as well cheerfully share with Julius Caesar, or heads of State of the 16th and 17th century: Strengthen your army, dominate foreign lands, rule the world. War is the key to victory.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, for instance has boasted about having 'grandiose' plans to restore the Russian forces. Some of his 'grandiose' plans include the development of new, more sophisticated nuclear weapons, which will certainly relaunch the nuclear race. That will give some other countries, such as Iran or North Korea, the perfect excuse to restore or enhance their nuclear activities.

Mr. Putin also talked about some supposed plans of the US to invade Russia in order to gain control of the oil reserves in Siberia. But his 'grandiose' plans not only will allow Russia to defend its territory, but also "other regions in the world". Those "other regions of the world" probably include the melting North Pole which, instead of attracting nations around the world to take measures to reduce or stop global warming, has rather become a nice opportunity to the eyes of many leaders to seize more natural resources for their countries and control possible future shipping routes. And Russia has taken a very anticipated step on this by placing a submarine flag right at the sea bottom corresponding to the Pole in an attempt to eventually control the oil and gas resources that are located right there.

Putin also spoke about his retaliation plans regarding the "Son of the Star Wars" defence shield that the US is setting up in Poland and the Czech Republic (and which is supposed to be in operation by 2013), mentioning that "if a decision is made without taking Russia's opinion into account, then we will certainly take steps in response to ensure the security of Russian citizens". He also demanded the US to set a specific date to withdraw its forces from Iraq, arguing that the fight has turned to be against the Iraqis and it's not against a tyrant's regime anymore.

All these statements and frightening comments come more or less simultaneous to George W. Bush's warning of having the world headed towards World War III. Bush just declared that if the world wants to avoid 'WWIII', then the international community should take the necessary steps to avoid Iran of having the necessary knowledge to develop nuclear weapons. Not surprisingly, Bush's statements came after Vladimir Putin visited Tehran and showed his support to Iran's 'peaceful' nuclear program.

All this situation looks bad. Very bad. When it looked that our twisted world couldn't get any worse after being threatened (and attacked) by terrorism anywhere, we have to painfully find out that the light is not yet at the end of this tunnel. We're actually heading back to the mentality of previous centuries, proving ourselves that history tends to repeat itself. Oh well.

With some information from Times Online and Tehran Times