Are we sliding towards global war?

JUST WHAT is the point of burning an Israeli flag defaced with a swastika?

We should treasure our freedom to protest but without sinking to the level of countries which have no regard for fellow human beings because they worship at different altars, were born to another culture, or vote alternative politics.

This week’s nadir though in terms of losing all humanity was learning cellphones and credit cards had been looted from the dead passengers travelling in the Malaysia Airlines jet shot down by pro-Russian Ukrainian militia; and as late as Friday, human remains still litter the roadside.

These thugs refused to protect the site or offer any dignity to the dead, one even accusing the western world of not caring until our own loved ones were killed. That’s simply not true, but suits Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agenda.

Right now the world is in a distressing and fragile state – Gaza, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, North Korea, and Ukraine’s conflict escalating to the point where they blow a passenger aircraft out of the sky. Are we sliding inexorably towards global war?

As Dr Gary Samore, Obama’s former national security aide, said when commenting on foreign policy, ‘‘There’s this outbreak of violence and instability everywhere.’’

Recently I read Trigger, a journalistic book (highly recommended) explaining why Serb Gavrilo Princip was driven to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand, thus triggering World War I. Two bullets that killed seven million people. Europe was tinder-dry in 1914. The breakout of war was, in author Tim Butcher’s words, ‘‘wilful, in that world leaders chose to leverage up a local crisis into a world war’’.

This week is exactly 100 years since Austria-Hungary issued its ultimatum to Serbia, a dispute which needlessly, some argue, spilled into four years of horror.

There are marked similarities between the situation in 1914, described by Butcher as an ‘‘explosive mix of old-world superiority, diplomatic miscalculation, strategic paranoia and hubristic military overconfidence’’, and Putin’s disdainful attitude towards the west.

It’s difficult to be charitable and view the attack on MH17 as an accident or blame the airline for flying high above a war zone. The pro-Russian Ukrainians, just like the wilful world leaders in 1914, did not consider the consequences when they let fly with the groundto-air missile, ending the lives of 298 people who had no business with Ukraine or Russia.

Typically when the world focuses on a monumental disaster, reason disappears and conspiracy theories fill the void. Russian TV, trying to mask reality, helped fuel the nonsense.

While world leaders negotiated for access to the site, return of the bodies, and recovery of the black box so some truths could be established, crazy stuff was aired, ranging from this being an assassination attempt on Putin, to a Zionist plot involving the missing MH370 filled with corpses.

There’s no conspiracy; no cockup. Just bone-headed, sometimes liquored-up fools who think force solves everything, so they shoot first then refuse to answer questions later.

Is the assassination of MH17’s passengers this generation’s trigger? Could we be on the brink of a third world war? Is it just fortunate at the moment that America’s current president, unlike predecessors, eschews boots on the ground for diplomacy and talks? Or will EU sanctions back Putin, like a rat, into a corner, making him fight harder for European dominance?

If that happens Russia will surely turn for strategic Poland, thus releasing the safety catch – diplomacy – and exhausting the patience of world leaders, particularly Merkel, who thought they could politely stare him down.

At that stage someone, somewhere will inevitably pull the trigger.

Last week’s column stated Paul Dally was on parole when he killed Karla Kardno. This was incorrect. Dally has never been paroled and is still in custody.

Also Dally was only convicted of murder, not sexual assault as my column incorrectly stated.