In the Eastern Bloc, we grew up with the feeling of an ever-present nuclear threat. Due to the severe psychological deviations of the leaders of the three great powers today - the USA, Russia and China - it has returned.
You probably know about the "Doomsday Clock", which "measures" the minutes and seconds until the possible nuclear apocalypse. Currently, it has been "wound" to a minute and a half until midnight - i.e. until the end of civilization. I haven't followed it regularly, but this was the closest thing to the apocalypse (or Armageddon according to the Revelation of John at the end of the New Testament). Are we really that close to the fatal moment in history?
The ever-hanging nuclear threat has returned
Many of you, especially heavy rock fans, remember or at least heard with a certain quiet unnameable horror the song by "Iron Maiden" "Two Minutes To Midnight". Ergo, in 1984 it was a whole two minutes, which seems a lot from our perspective today.
Where are you quiet and unnameable - in my childhood memories over us, and in the Eastern Bloc in general, the ever-hanging nuclear threat was used by the late communist regime to instill additional Angst ("anxiety") in the propaganda against the evil imperialism of NATO and the USA in particular. The concept of mutual deterrence was not known then, only the tribalistic type of "we are the good guys, they are the bad guys and they will attack us, and we must fight back". Accordingly, there were teachings that were completely stupid from today's point of view on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack, everyone had to know where the neighborhood shelter was.
Then the USSR and the Eastern Bloc collapsed, and everyone seemed to forget about the somewhat Pythagorean horror of the looming nuclear threat in a matter of minutes. Honestly, despite my anthropological and political-historical studies, I thought that we had forever gotten rid of this quasi-fear and general anxiety, until the "special military operation" came in Ukraine, better known as Russia's pure war of conquest.
And then suddenly I was startled and even withdrawn and somehow naively childishly told my friends that I did not believe that this crushing Angst, but also the pure Nietzschean in its origin Furcht ("fear") of nuclear war would return within my lifetime. And that we should still be afraid for everything achieved by humanity, but especially for our children.
The mania of Trump and Musk
Why are we currently as close as possible to the Third World and the apocalypse? Because of the severe psychological deviations of the leaders of the three great powers today - the USA, Russia and China. Secondary players like Macron's Europe or Narendra Modi's India really do not play in Group A. I understand the somewhat naive hopes and wishful thinking of the masses that the United States and Russia in particular would come to an agreement, but it doesn't work that way. And I'm not just talking about the war in Ukraine, to which we devote almost one hundred percent of the media coverage regarding the nuclear threat.
First, Donald Trump seriously resembles a cyclophrenic, i.e. a person with bipolar affective disorder (the Americans call him "manic depressive"). The most characteristic thing about him is constant mood swings, severe dysthymia alternating with special periods of euphoria, in which Greenland, the Panama Canal and a few other things "we must get them". Tech billionaires like Elon Musk, who is clearly in his "manic episode", i.e. literally appointed by his possible cyclophrenic to deal with the entire current American administration on his own, don't help matters at all. And, more simply, he has a kind of license to do whatever he wants.
For Putin, human life is not a value
Secondly, in the person of Putin we have a suspicion of an extreme and severe narcissist (they also have a tradition - from Ivan the Terrible, through the Hessian Romanovs, to Stalin), who considers himself almost literally a god, as well as, of course, the savior of everything Russian. The main thing about self-proclaimed autocrats, but also imperceptible psychological victims like Putin, is that there is no empathy whatsoever. That is, this is a person who does not consider human life to be the greatest basic value, quite the opposite.
In such a mind, throwing tens of thousands of Russians into war while sitting at a six-meter table is not only acceptable, but probably the most Mephistophelian thing ever. Especially if you are short and look at the world mainly from the bottom up and have to give back to the higher ones in every sense. Putin thinks he is superior to all geopolitical players, he sees himself at least as Peter the Great (with the opposite sign) and to some extent as Stalin - that's where the cult of victory in the Patriotic War comes from. The narcissism here is visible to the naked eye - if in America there is MAGA ("Make America Great Again"), then in today's Russia it is the same - "сделаем Россию снова великой".
He wants Taiwan. He also wants world domination.
Third, we have Comrade Xi. It is difficult for me to apply any philosophical-cultural scheme to him, because today's China is no longer Confucian, after so many decades of crude military communism. Confucianism would be of the kind that there should be respect between the individual Chinese clans, even a common Chinese loyalty. Nothing like that - Comrade Xi is lurking to take Taiwan and demand world domination, economic or not, over the US.
Ergo, today the possible nuclear deterrent now includes China. Well, congratulations, there is no such thing anymore. With Trumpmania, Putinmania, etc. Because we don't know, we don't know the leaders well, especially Trump and Putin, we can only psychologically assume - and with real fear in our hearts to agree that these are literally capable of anything.
With such leaders, already unstoppable by the supposedly corporate power centers, World War III awaits us - hardly this year, but I wouldn't bet on it after 2030.
Hug the children, kiss your loved ones and enjoy the spring.
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This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and DV as a whole.