Renounce war and proclaim peace

March 30, 2012

We are a Warlike People | Renounce War and Proclaim Peace! Modern prophets have spoken out against unjust warfare and encouraged us to raise the standard of peace…

I’m going to talk about peace as a part of a week-long bloggernacle initiative.

I’ll write about a peace related topic (Anti-ballistic missile defense systems) and related issues, and then about peace.

ABM Systems — What is really bothering the Russians.

People are starting at the wrong place when they push for an ABM system in Europe.  The solution to Russian opposition is simple:  have them provide physical security for the site by posting a combat brigade there.  But understanding the reason they feel threatened by the system helps understand why such a solution is necessary.

The Russians do not have more than three or four nuclear weapons they can deliver.  Their Air Force runs on grain alcohol for coolant.  The last time they were able to run a regional drill was when the last MIG defected.  Since then they have not been able to store enough alcohol (that wasn’t drunk) and enough fuel (that wasn’t diverted) to run a regional drill.  They can not deliver a nuclear weapon by air to any significant distance.

Submarines?  Russian submarines are built around stolen mainframes hardwired to the submarine for targeting purposes.  Remember main frames made with vacuum tubes?

Ballistic missiles?  The o-rings on them, just as with the space shuttle, can not withstand freezing temperatures.  Ballistic missile bases for the Russians are all in Siberia.  In silos that do not have the best of environmental controls in a good year.  My best guess is that they have the means to repair 3-4 missiles if they have an urgent need.

A system that could stop 3-4 missiles is probably enough to shut Russia down.  We need to quit pretending that the ABM system we are building is not a threat to the Russians and work out a way to let them have assurance it won’t be used that way.

Giving them control of physical security of the site would do that.  Otherwise all we are doing is taking away their deterrence so that they are feeling less secure, rather than sharing in a defensive umbrella with us.

Peace — What does it really mean to renounce war and espouse peace?


Ok, I have addressed something concrete, now for something general.  What do we need to seek peace and find our refuge with God?

I think it starts with brother Clark:

And the worst of this atomic bomb tragedy is not that not only did the people of the United States not rise up in protest against this savagery, not only did it not shock us to read of this wholesale destruction of men, women, and children, and cripples, but that it actually drew from the nation at large a general approval of this fiendish butchery. Thus we in America are now deliberately searching out and developing the most savage, murderous means of exterminating peoples that Satan can plant in our minds. We do it not only shamelessly, but with a boast. God will not forgive us for this. If we are to avoid extermination, if the world is not to be wiped out, we must find some way to curb the fiendish ingenuity of men who have apparently no fear of God, man, or the devil, and who are willing to plot and plan and invent instrumentalities that will wipe out all the flesh of the earth. And, as one American citizen of one hundred thirty millions, as one in one billion population of the world, I protest with all of the energy I possess against this fiendish activity, and as an American citizen, I call upon our government and its agencies to see that these unholy experimentations are stopped, and that somehow we get into the minds of our war-minded general staff and its satellites, and into the general staffs of all the world, a proper respect for human life.¹

For more, read Clark at:  http://www.latterdayconservative.com/articles/let-us-have-peace/

What has our apostasy from peace cost us?

That question was Clark’s bottom line, over and over again.  Not only what has that apostasy cost us, but what will it continue to cost us?  Do we pray for forgiveness that we put our hearts and our trust in the arm of flesh and in war rather than in peace?

Will we mourn, as Kipling did:

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word—
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!

Will God then have mercy on us?

So, from a concrete standpoint, I’ve covered one small way we could focus on defense rather than using a defensive shield as a tool of aggression, and, then, more generally, on just what is peace, what is pride, and when will we have God’s mercy.

Think on that.  Share your thoughts.