RED DRAGON shifts and growls, restless. Big Bear claws and snaps at neighbour and blood flows but his eyes are trained on the horizon. Yankee Eagle sweeps down and force-pecks at them both, confident in having the global North under his wing. To Africa’s west, terrorists are devastating the whole area, leaving dead bodies in their wake. In its horn, regions are rising against the centre and it responds in kind, with blood-flow unchecked. Clans are turning terrorist against fellow clans in an orgy of bloodletting. A spot that breaks off and chooses peace is denied vital recognition by the world. At Africa’s centre and east, all have opted for regional cooperation. But those unable to manage themselves turn spoiler. A big baby has failed to take its first steps and is in the delusional belief that its buried treasure will by itself lift it to giant stature. With more than 132 ants taking bites at it, it dabbles in blame games, pointing at an innocent neighbour as the source of its sorrows. A tiny neighbour, similarly directionless, cries “True!” also as spoiler. To Africa’s south, things are calmer, with one spot having wisely sought the helping hand of a peace-crusader from the eastern part, to put terrorists to flight. On the Asian continent, some spots are turbulent and it’s some busybody from afar to blame. It’s the same in the Far East as it is, in South America. Everywhere, only tiny islands know peace. Unfortunately, the horror effects of climate change, even as they hang over everybody’s head like the Sword of Damocles, hang more ominously on theirs. The whole world is on a precipice, an abyss beckoning. All at the hand of greedy man, if not that of aggrieved climate. Extermination stares us in the face. It’s a turbulent, violent world out there. A clear demonstration of the futility of the hostility of man against man/woman. It’s for this reason that we should applaud USA (Yankee Eagle) for launching the November 24, 2021, initiative. May it keep on this righteous path instead of provoking wars and may Russia (Big Bear) and China (Red Dragon) also embrace this noble mission! The initiative? Maybe you’ve heard news of USA’s NASA Programme of sending a spacecraft on a kamikaze assignment to crash into an asteroid. See, there are myriad asteroids and comets hurtling around out there in space, some of which we see as stars, which can turn our planet earth into rubble on collision. As for us little earthlings, we’ll have turned history even before contact. This is a scientific fact and it has ever happened before. As recently as February 2013, scientists say, a rocky object off an asteroid or comet penetrated the atmosphere over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk and injured 1,500 people. In the atmosphere, nowhere near the earth’s surface! Before that, 66 million years ago (!), a 10-km-diameter asteroid actually collided with earth and struck the Chicxulub area of Mexico. The collision produced energy equivalent to billions of atomic bombs and destroyed 75% of all plant and animal species. It bid all dinosaurs farewell. We should congratulate USA, therefore, because that November 24, 2021, NASA sent a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on a 23,760km journey to slam into Dimorphos, a small asteroid that orbits a bigger asteroid, Dymos. This was an experiment that sought to see if it can deflect Dimorphos and send it in a harmless direction. After a 10-month journey, DART’s suicide bomber impact was this last Monday 26, 2022. We are yet to know if the craft succeeded in its job of deflecting the asteroid. The situation is said to be like this. Astronomers have identified all the big asteroids and know that they are unlikely to collide with earth in the near future. However, they’ve no idea about the number and locations of some of the smaller asteroids and comets. As telescopes advance, they might locate one that’s right now coasting towards us! Thus, the importance of the experiment. We urgently need to be prepared. Now imagine the trillions upon trillions of money poured into wars the world over, all for the slaughter of our fellow humans. Instead of this effort in self-destruction, why don’t we put all that money, energy, brains and whatever else we can muster together and save humanity? Frail, finite earthlings, why don’t we live as kindred and leave a better world for posterity? That money can improve human welfare, clean the environment, depollute the climate, fend off dangerous stars, among other deeds. However, trust greedy humans to spoil all. On the same Monday that DART had just exploded in an experimental saviour effort, explosions blew gaping holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. These take vital Russian gas to Germany but now are lying at the bottom of Danish waters, as debris. The dreadfulness of it all: they spewed tons of extremely pollutant methane gas to add to climate miseries. Russia or USA to blame? Despite the praises, the odds lie heavily with the latter! Humanity, let’s make destructive stars and destructive all else wars, not kin wars.
