The Biggest Takeaway from Modern Conflict Zones

Type 'iro' in the Twitter search box and you'll most likely see 'Iron Dome' first, trumping 'Ironman'....victory of evil over good, may I call it ? While governments the world over remain impassive about the growing viciousness of the cycle of atrocities, those that bear the direct costs see no option but to buttress their survival with the wherewithal needed. Yesterday, it was the Kalashnikov. Today, it is the Iron Dome/BUK. Tomorrow, who knows...

But why are we facing such a situation today? The answer lies in the way Brahma Chellaney, a respected Indian strategist described his mitigation strategy in the aftermath of MH17. He says, " (a) more cost-effective approach to countering missile threats to civil aircraft would be political in nature, focussing on better geopolitics, improved regional security, enhanced safety measures in the vicinity of airports, and modified flight operations and air-traffic procedures to minimise risks."

"Better geopolitics, improved regional security" are exactly the phrases that the world is tired of hearing, in varied contexts, whether it be in environmental forums, the UNSC/UNGA meetings or the various economic fora that get together with precision clock-work. The pandering to rhetoric signifies a poor excuse for the ineffectiveness among the world community to enforce accountability. Nobody seems to have the foggiest idea how to achieve it.

As long as 'accountability' remains tough to define and 'enforcement' remains elusive, an intellectual vacuum is taking shape, which threatens to legitimise the race for coercive superiority - aka 'the bigger gun'.

In this respect, the David & Goliath saga currently playing out in the these conflict zones (the Gaza Strip and Eastern Ukraine) signifies a very important development that nobody seems to have the courage to delve into - namely the 'outreach potential' of such trouble-spots in terms of promoting weapons technology. While the US engagement in Iraq remained largely off the TV screens (I don't refer to the '91 war - which brought 'Tomahawks' and 'Scuds' into our living rooms), Afghanistan too proved far-off to stream live pictures into homes. It simply did not capture public imagination the way 'BUK' did, in the aftermath of the #MH17 tragedy or the stellar way that 'Iron Dome' is performing around the streets of Gaza.

With the world community proving ineffective in its ability to respond effectively (a proactive approach is not even on the cards yet), there is an ever growing interest around the world in acquiring the 'bigger' gun. And with the big 5 controlling a large part of the world's arms market (and Israel, of course), it seems but natural that while the first-world 'intellectuals' pander to rhetoric, the powerful elite continue to seek the next 'weapon testing' ground with their bankers laughing all the way to the bank.

While Chellaney weaves a dream about international treaties to ban SAM proliferation and international pacts against the thriving black market in arms, these are but pipe dreams at the present, fit to be consigned to the realm of fantasy, while the bottom-feeders in distant lands are left with the hard reality of fending for themselves.

Picture Courtesy: images.bwbx.io

Brahma Chellaney's article can be found at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments-analysis/how-to-avert-another-mh17/articleshow/38913171.cms