Global turbulence, tempests and turmoil

While viewing again the majestic Niagara Falls that divides the USA and Canada, from the northern side this time, I got a lot of messages advising me to go slow in travelling, while there are troubles all over the world. There is a raging war of attrition in Ukraine, political chaos in Sri Lanka, the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in Japan, escalating tensions in all the seas east of China, and shooting rampages in the US, now also in Denmark. The whole planet is under constant threats of a global conflagration.

In Ukraine, multiple NATO countries are sending to Ukraine billions worth of arms, ammunition, tanks, helicopters, and warplanes to help President Zelensky against the escalating attacks of Russia, especially in the eastern territories of this beleaguered nation. Russian invaders are now in control of the entire region of Luhansk, as well as the important city of Lysychansk. While Russian forces have withdrawn from the Snake Island in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian positions in the south have come under heavy artillery shelling. Russia’s recent advances follow the strategic capture of the nearby town of Severodonetsk. Ukrainian defenders, however, are able to hold their defense lines in Popasna in the south, Lyman in the southwest, and Rubizne in the central region. But the people are suffering and Zelensky is much dependent on NATO support.

In Sri Lanka, the president has fled by boat in the dead of the night. His private residence had been burned down by angry mobs and his official residence was attacked, looted, and ransacked. What is happening to Sri Lanka reminds me of EDSA and Malacañang in the final days of February 1986. The US envoy in Colombo advised the 73-year-old president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to work out a peaceful solution, even as the latter is about to tender his resignation. He escaped the capital to spare his family and himself from violent attacks from the angry Sri Lankans. The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is also poised to resign, but he will only do so if there is another government that is ready to take over. The whole nation is in economic devastation, social conflict, and political chaos that could all erupt into a full-blown revolution.

The much disturbing news about Japan's 67-year-old former prime minister Shinzo Abe has shocked the whole nation. Japan is the most peaceful country in Asia and in the Pacific where there is a very stringent gun control law. It takes 10 difficult steps for a private citizen to own a handgun in Japan. But the young assassin was able to come up with a crudely-assembled home-made 40-centimeter arm that looked like a propellant made of tube pipes taped together. Such a weapon is rarely used in Japan where mentally-deranged attackers would use knives to stab victims or chemicals and gasoline to set victims ablaze. The wonder of it all was how the criminal was able to penetrate the tight security cordon around the place where the prime minister was delivering a speech.

Well, in the USA, rampage shooting happens every week. Senseless killings that are suspected of being motivated by racism happen every now and then. Because in many US states, one could buy a gun just like he is buying a cellphone, mass shootings happen even inside schools, killing innocent school children and teachers. A Filipino lawyer vacationing in Pennsylvania was hit by a bullet supposedly intended for another target. There had been a number of attacks and assaults against Asians in New York and even in the west coast cities of San Diego, LA, and San Francisco. A few days ago, this kind of senseless attack took place in, of all places, serene and peaceful Denmark.

That is why family and friends are warning me against too much peregrinations. To which I say that I am a fatalist. If it is my time to go, even if I stay under a mango tree in my farm in Langin, Ronda, Cebu, or I lecture in the university belt in Manila, I can die. El sitio nada importa, as my Spanish speaking compañero here is telling me. Death comes like a thief in the night. If I die right here in Niagara or in Fuente Osmeña, it's the same death. And so, see you all in London next week.