#OutlookMagazine | Democracy was created to counter power, force, and violence, offering a vision of governance through the will of the people. Yet in the 21st century, democracies are facing decline and becoming sources of violence. Much of this violence is enacted in the name of democracy rather than against it.
The Middle East and Ukraine remain critical flashpoints. The United States is involved in one, and Russia is the aggressor in the other. Both conflicts carry the risk of escalating into global wars with catastrophic consequences. Meanwhile, China threatens Taiwan and exerts dominance in the South China Sea.
Dilip Sinha reflects on the United Nations’ inability to maintain peace. He compares its current irrelevance to the League of Nations on the brink of World War II. He argues that global powers shaping conflicts cannot guarantee peace.
P.S. Raghavan critiques the post-Cold War liberal order, arguing for a genuine rules-based system that accommodates contemporary powers. He highlights the contradictions in the existing order, where responses to crises are inconsistent and selective.
Immanuel Kant envisioned democracies as natural allies for peace, guided by the will of people who avoid unnecessary wars. This vision contrasts with today’s democracies, often embroiled in conflicts.
In this edition of Outlook, we examine the connections between democracy, war, and peace. As we step into 2025, we reflect on what these conflicts reveal about humanity and our perennial state of discord.
Follow us:
Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/
X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia
Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine
Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia
#War #Peace #Democracy #OutlookMagazine #NeverEndingWars #ContinuousWars #EndlessWars #PerpetualWars #Outlook #WarAndDemocracy
The Middle East and Ukraine remain critical flashpoints. The United States is involved in one, and Russia is the aggressor in the other. Both conflicts carry the risk of escalating into global wars with catastrophic consequences. Meanwhile, China threatens Taiwan and exerts dominance in the South China Sea.
Dilip Sinha reflects on the United Nations’ inability to maintain peace. He compares its current irrelevance to the League of Nations on the brink of World War II. He argues that global powers shaping conflicts cannot guarantee peace.
P.S. Raghavan critiques the post-Cold War liberal order, arguing for a genuine rules-based system that accommodates contemporary powers. He highlights the contradictions in the existing order, where responses to crises are inconsistent and selective.
Immanuel Kant envisioned democracies as natural allies for peace, guided by the will of people who avoid unnecessary wars. This vision contrasts with today’s democracies, often embroiled in conflicts.
In this edition of Outlook, we examine the connections between democracy, war, and peace. As we step into 2025, we reflect on what these conflicts reveal about humanity and our perennial state of discord.
Follow us:
Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/
X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia
Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine
Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia
#War #Peace #Democracy #OutlookMagazine #NeverEndingWars #ContinuousWars #EndlessWars #PerpetualWars #Outlook #WarAndDemocracy
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A war does not just kill people, it kills cultures.
00:06The siege is always eternal and only aims at complete erasure of the other.
00:11At first, the buildings are hit, then museums and libraries are attacked.
00:16All sites of memories are dangerous, and therefore, they gradually cease to exist.
00:22Alone he thinks only of forgetting.
00:24Like clumsy council, everything around him falls down.
00:28Nothing else is happening.
00:29He walks the path of departure without the keys to the houses, without a sigh for the
00:34many losses or waiting for the night to inherit the place.
00:38The past will fall to the asphalt like bags worn, old with wandering, from his shoulders
00:44it falls.
00:45This is an excerpt from the Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaktan's poem, Time and Forgetting.
00:51He wrote this in response to author Naveen Kishore's letter for the yearly Siegel catalogue.
00:56The next conversation between the two writers happened on the New Year's Day of 2025.
01:02Zaktan spoke to Kishore and informed him that Israel's strike on Palestine has killed 26
01:07people.
01:08One more sad mail from Palestine, too many lives lost, meanwhile we celebrate Christmas
01:14and yet another New Year.
01:15Sorry, I can't stop the words, writes Kishore.
01:19Wars are never elsewhere.
01:21Wars have been glorified as the highest form of struggle and wars have existed from time
01:26that private properties and class emerged.
01:28The world went on to become a place of democracies and yet wars have grown and assumed new forms.
01:34There is always that lair for expansion, a free world is a dream still, and we continue
01:40to witness greed and brutality.
01:43From Ukraine to Gaza, war has reshaped borders, lives, and the global conscience.
01:49Remember, democracy never lasts long.
01:52It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.
01:56There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
02:00John Adams
02:01As we reel from the seismic shifts, war and democracy are intertwined in a disturbing
02:06new order.
02:07Wars that should have ended linger on.
02:10Democracies that should have prevented bloodshed now justify it.
02:15Majority has decayed into majoritarianism.
02:17Once a tool of freedom, democracy now commands certainty.
02:22Certainty that excludes, oppresses, and destroys.
02:25The post-Cold War world fractured into new alliances and animosities.
02:30NATO's eastward push birthed conflicts that culminated in Ukraine's agony.
02:35In West Asia, vacuums left by American withdrawal invited Russia, China, and Iran into a deadly
02:42dance of power.
02:44In Asia-Pacific, China's maritime ambitions forged new alliances.
02:48The Indo-Pacific became a theater where India finally claimed its seat but at the cost of
02:54growing tensions.
02:56Multipolarity now dominates the narrative as countries reject the binaries of democracy
03:01versus authoritarianism.
03:03Interests trump values.
03:06The global south, mocked as nebulous, asserts autonomy, challenging the outdated global
03:12hierarchies.
03:13The US remains dominant but its grasp is weakening.
03:17China's technological and military advances, Russia's enduring influence, and Europe's
03:22internal fractures signal a shifting power balance.
03:26New realities demand fresh frameworks.
03:29Project 2025 envisions a Europe defending itself while the US pivots to core interests.
03:36Ukraine's reconstruction will be a multi-billion dollar odyssey while West Asia's fragile
03:41diplomacy teeters.
03:43An order that condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine but ignores Gaza's devastation
03:48cannot claim moral authority.
03:51The anniversary issue of Outlook India looked at wars around the world.
03:54Wars that should have ended.
03:56Senseless killings, destruction, and loss have no place in this world.
04:00The last issue was homage to all the lives and love lost.
04:03But loss of this scale cannot be wrapped up in a hundred pages.
04:07No amount of words can document the mourning and carnage of the last two decades.
04:11In this latest issue, we continue to bear witness to suffering, death, and destruction.
04:17Because bearing witness remains our duty.
04:20And witness is no longer passive.
04:22It is resistance against erasure.
04:24As the world burns, this is not a story of the past.
04:27It's the present we must survive.
04:29My daughter wouldn't hurt a spider that nested between her bicycle handles.
04:34For two weeks, she waited, until it left of its own accord.
04:39If you tear down the web, I said, it will simply know.
04:43This isn't a place to call home, and you would get to go biking.
04:46She said, that's how others become refugees.