The Past is dead - face up to reality for a brighter future

 I’ve read a lot of history books, but whilst its been interesting to learn how people behaved and dealt with past problems, the study of history is of little practical use. Because the world today is not the world of yesterday, you cannot just keep doing the same thing, just because it may have worked in the past.

Putin, when interviewed by Tucker, gave a half hour history lecture to justify his invasion of Ukraine. It’s a shame that the Ukraine and Russia of the past no longer exist, and his use of history (however he  sees it) to make decisions today is fundamentally wrong. The world continually changes and these changes cannot be ignored in any decision making process. If you do, eventually reality will catch up with you and will force change upon you.

Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist party also want to finish a war of  75 years ago and take over Taiwan, which was part  of China in the first half of the 20th Century. He ignores the fact this was now a long time ago and that today the people of Taiwan vote for continued independence. Again history is used and the reality of new circumstances are ignored to justify present policy.

Why can’t they just be honest? Putin and Xi want to take over these places, because they are democratic and therefore a direct threat to their personal wealth, status and power. If people who are culturally very similar to the people over whom they rule start enjoying the benefits of democracy and freedom, then Xi and Putin are highly likely to be pushed aside as new leaders, who will have more focus on the lives of their fellow countrymen,  get  a chance to govern and show what they can do.

This explains why Putin, who is basically a violent criminal gangster and Xi Jinping, who says his ambition is to finish the socialist utopian dream started by Mao, are getting on so well together. They both fear modern western ideology which can no  longer be defeated, or even challenged, intellectually by historic alternatives. Therefore their only option to maintain their personal positions is to use violence against their own people and war against the west.      

Time to choose your future - but please don't ignore the reality of today. Don't let history hold you back.