Obligations Of The World's Richest Man

I have a theory that we are moving toward a future where the war against terror will be fought by privately funded mercenary forces. It appears that America’s military involvement in Iraq is headed for an exit and it begs the question of what will be done about the fanatical terrorists in our world. Political activism has once again proven that a confused cry for peace can bring political surrender to the world’s most advanced military force. I say confused cry because it is my belief that anti-war movements produce zero peace, they only serve to extract the American soldier from the conflict. War does not stop when the US soldier comes home. The Iraq war and tangential Middle-East conflicts will continue without us, most likely increasing in furor. This is a repeat of the politically pressured pattern established in Vietnam where approximately 3 million people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos died in war after we pulled out our American troops.

The United Nations is much a like staggering drunkard, utterly inept and ready to lie in the gutter asleep amid the world’s turmoil. And much like a drunk soiling his own pants, the UN moves from one incontinent greed based scandal to the next greedy ambassador in the line.

As the world has moved increasingly toward globalization it has created worldwide investment by the world’s largest corporations. The opportunities to invest electronically in a nation outside your own have multiplied exponentially and it has been made remarkably easy by the presence of the internet. Investment in physical production facilities abroad has also increased exponentially in the last 20 years. This is true for companies around the world and is in no way limited to the US corporation or conglomerate.

Is it not amazing that Microsoft supplies 90% of the world’s computer operating systems? Bill Gates, understanding the obligations of being the world’s richest man, spends the majority of his time giving billions to charitable causes. How about Cisco Systems and their products that string the internet together? Cisco owns a similar world position as Microsoft’s, and the other side of this remarkable fact is that Microsoft, Cisco and a thousand other giants are completely reliant and even dependent on the production of third party suppliers located around the globe. Instability in Taiwan, for example, is far more injurious to delivery of your new Dell computer than you might realize. Unless you want one that does not contain the electronic parts necessary to make it function. Imagine the product Berkshire Hathaway ships through the world’s ports each day, or envision the value of tankers full of oil navigating ports of terrorist influence on their way to serve the commerce of Australia, courtesy of the employees and technical ability of Shell.

The threading together of businesses throughout the world is a complicated and eye opening network.

I sense that we have reached a time marker in history where the economic survival of the companies that supply our world with product, services and economic well being is stronger than our moral outrage with Jihad.

When terrorists implement their spiritually bankrupt evil it is an evil also visited on the commerce of the world. In this way it becomes a presumptive need of industry to prevent the mindless terrorism of a barbarous medieval mind set. If the nations of the world or the impotent United Nations cannot eradicate terrorism it will be left to the corporate conglomerates of the world.

They will not perform this task with a dressed up army, announcing their intention. It will be accomplished by underground and unseen militias and technology driven tactics that ignore the Geneva Convention and established rules of engagement. They have no governed citizen to answer to and like a terrorist, only a cause to secure. They will be funded by hidden accounting practice and coordinated with the necessary political figures.

I may have given you enough to think about here, and I feel this discussion (on my part) might expand itself into a 4-5 part series here.

If you believe petitioning your government for peace is a solution to violence, think deeper. This discussion point has many areas to explore, including the philosophical and moral implications of mercenary corporate warrior vs. Jihad.

Meanwhile your comments will facilitate discussion.

~More later~