Strong and kind

A well-known Swedish childrens hero called Bamse, has the following motto:

Den som är väldigt stark måste också vara väldigt snäll

…which translates loosely into:

He who is very strong must also be very kind

~

The 7th of October 2023 – Start of the 2023 Gaza war.

Terrorist organization Hamas crosses the Gaza-Israel border with around 3.000 troops and attacks civilians within Israel. Close to 1.200 Israelis are killed, amongst them 695 civilians and 71 foreigners. Additionally, around 240 Israelis are kidnapped and taken as hostages in Gaza.  Israel strikes back with troops in Gaza and bombing infrastructure and buildings that are claimed to be ‘Hamas offices, weapon storage, and transportation tunnels’. Their efforts resulted in millions of Gaza civilians fleeing their homes, twenty percent of all buildings in Gaza (including homes, schools, and hospitals) being destroyed, and around 20.000 Palestinian deaths (mid-December 2023). At the same time, there are no indications that the war will end soon.

Israel has a very strong military presence and a large number of active troops. Israel has the possibility and the means to wipe out everything and anything alive in Gaza. The country has currently, and always had historically, the full military and financial support of the USA.

In short, according to ‘He who is very strong must also be very kind’ rule, Israel, as a strong military nation, should be able to solve the conflict in another manner than bombing everything in Gaza and killing the Palestinian civilians.

Despicable factors negatively influencing this are:

  • The current Israeli PM wants to remain in power – at all cost
  • Hamas hides among Palestinian civilians
  • The US blocks any helpful peace-making efforts by the UN

See notes further down on this page.

~

The 24th of February 2022 – Start of the russia-Ukraine war

While this war already started in 2014 with the russian army invading the Krim, this early part of the war was largely ignored as it did not escalate into a larger weaponed conflict. Ukrains demanded the area beig returned to them but did not enforce this.

In 2022 it did escalate as russia invaded Ukraine with the purpose to ‘liberate Ukraine from Neo-Nazi forces‘. The conflict is still ongoing with no end in sight for the foreseeable future. It was started with the invaders’ assumption that their liberation targets would be met within three months. Now, almost two years further, russian troops remain largely in the same spots that they were when it all started. The russian government cannot give in to international demands as its management – read: putin – is not prepared to lose face. Meanwhile, most russian citizens still think that the special military operation served a good purpose – which is the result of not having a free press…

According to the UN, until November 2023 10.000 civilians were killed. This includes close to 600 children. Also, 18.500 civilians were wounded, most of them in bombings of non-military installations as train stations, shopping centers, schools, and housing areas. The number of military casualties is estimated to be as high as 500.000.

This also is an example of not following the idea of ‘He who is very strong must also be very kind’. Clearly, russia has infinitely more military resources than Ukraine.

Despicable factors negatively influencing this are:

  • Again, a russian president that desparately wants to remain in power – at all cost
  • The situation where russia developed into a dictatorship not allowing a free press or political opposition

See notes further down on this page.

~

The message of this should be simple and clear to anyone – it was created for a childrens book to learn small kids something about life:

If you’re so much stronger than your opponent,
you should refrain from exploiting this advantage.
There must be another way to solve the conflict.

Apparently, this message is too complicated for some of the world’s leaders and statesmen.

~

Paul
2023-12

Notes:

  • Some names of countries and persons in this post are written without capitals. This is intentional, you can read more about that here.
  • In January 2024, an estimated 30.000 Palestinians were reported to have been killed by continued Israeli warfare against Hamas.
  • Also January 2024,  PM Netanjahu announced no longer being in favor of a two-state solution. According to him, Israel needs to control all of the area between the river and the sea. He did not present a viable solution or mentioned peace coming up any time soon.
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