As of today, Thursday March 10, 2022, the Russian army has invaded Ukraine and occupied a significant amount of their territory. The huge military force that they assembled outside the Ukrainian border is now pretty much inside it.
Close to Kyiv, the capitol and the cultural heart of the nation, a 40 mile long convoy of tanks, armored personnel carriers, missile launchers and heavy artillery waits to enter the city and blow it to smithereens in order to subdue the opposition. They have been stalled there for days knowing that the ‘opposition’ (AKA the people who live there) have armor piercing weapons and that their armor plated tanks will turn into infernos when they’re hit with those things and bake anybody who’s inside like bread in an oven. Only faster.
And there are thousands of these weapons already in Ukraine. More are coming from neighboring countries. They’re fairly easy to use and carry around and hide. There could be people waiting with one of these weapons around any corner or behind any wall or on top of any roof. Urban warfare. How to flush them out so it’s safe to take over the place? That’s where the smithereens come in. “We had to destroy the village in order to save it” was the famous quote from Vietnam.
And Putin can’t back down now, he’ll lose face and maybe his presidency. He’s got to play it out with bluff, threat and brute force. It’s going to be a jolly great war.
Besides the terror, the tragedy, the death and destruction, the massive amounts of wasted resources, the displacement of people from their homes, the refugees, the disruption to society and to the economy, the shredding of civilized norms and all the rest of the tawdry list - I somehow find myself (maybe like you) fascinated by the weapons of war.
Shiva, the destroyer, from the Hindu religion can vaporize people with his third eye. He can decapitate monsters with his trident. Pretty powerful. The American made Javelin missile (pictured below) can be fired from the shoulder and decimate a tank 2 1/2 miles away, right thru 5” of hardened steel. Also pretty powerful. Maybe there’s some mythic element to it. Weapons I mean.
Besides the U.S. made Javelin there are other countries providing tank busting weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces. The NLAW (Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon), is being sent from the U.K and Luxembourg. The Panzerfaust 3, that fires a small guided missile that can take out a tank or a bunker is being supplied from Germany. The Carl Gustaf, a recoilless rifle that fires anti-tank and high-explosive rounds, is being supplied by Canada. And the AT4, another anti-armour weapon is coming from Sweden. Lovely names. NLAW, good Lord.
And then there’s the Stinger, a surface to air, shoulder fired heat seeking missile. Ironically, an earlier model of this weapon was given to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to shoot down Russian helicopters during the Soviet occupation back in the 80’s. Now they’re being supplied in quantity to shoot down Russian helicopters in Ukraine. Well there’s irony for you. The Stinger can target slow moving or low flying aircraft up to 15,000 feet and blow them up.
So why is a peacnik like me talking about weapons of war? That’s a good question. I don’t really know.
I remember playing with army guys as a kid - little green plastic molded figures holding guns; I would station them behind bunkers in the sandbox and have a war. I also remember playing cowboys and Indians with my brothers where the point was to shoot each other. I guess there is some part of me that’s fascinated with weapons and destruction. The Shiva part of me. Aren’t the gods all expressions of ourselves after all? Who else could they be expressions of?
We are creative, like Brahma, the creator god of the Hindu trilogy. We can give birth to new life. Atleast the women can.
We also want to sustain our nation, our society, our lifestyle. Don’t we? Yes, we do. Make it nice. Make it comfortable. Keep the car running and the house warm. That’s like Vishnu, the sustainer. All attributes of ourselves it seems to me.
And war itself, although it’s not usually described as a life enhancing experience, for the individual soldier in the heat of battle, it really is. War puts you in awe of the moment. It could be your last. For real. You become super alert and super aware of things you never noticed before. It’s called a ‘peak experience’ and the veterans, if they survive, remember it for the rest of their lives.
We fight wars everyday, if you think about it, with ourselves and with other people. And don’t we use weapons? Our voice. Our reasons. We try to overpower our opponent with explanations. Just saying. Just trying to understand my own fascination with weapons.
These days weapons are highly fashionable. Especially in Texas. You can buy your 9 mm Glock at a gun show, get your concealed carry permit and you’re armed. Ready for anything that might happen. Except of course another person with a Glock. Dang, I didn’t see them.
Weapons. It used to be we threw stones and sticks at each other. That’s basically what a gun is or a Stinger: something that throws a stone very fast and very far.
We have weaponized the whole world. Even our politics. We want to cause maximum damage with our words, just like a smart bomb. Strike with deadly accuracy at the heart of the matter.
Hey, I’m not criticizing, just noticing. The weapons industry is a major player in international commerce. It does seem to me, however, with some deeper reflection, that we could be making something more useful than weapons of war.
I just can’t think of what it might be right now. As the Ukrainian conflict escalates, weapons are in the news, not alternatives to weapons. Maybe we could ask Shiva, or Jehovah if you are a Christian, to fight our wars for us. Leave it to the gods, they have superpowers. Leave it to humans to do what we’re good at. Obviously not wars because we keep having them and they never resolve anything. Just keep going.
The war on drugs. The war on terrorism. Maybe we can have a war on war. Weapons for that war would be speaking truth, being true to yourself, having compassion for our fellow humans. And if we can win that war and leave the people to live in peace then it will be a good war and we will have used our weapons well.
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weapons of war