The ecological catastrophe now occurring in Australia and the coming war our dear leader is probably provoking with Iran are twin nightmares greeting the new decade.
Scenes of Australians huddling on beaches as wildfires rage is on its way to normalization. An area of that country the size of West Virginia is being rendered uninhabitable by scorching temperatures, lack of water and the ubiquitous flames. It is estimated half a billion animals have already perished and any survivors are probably doomed. Meanwhile, the country's leaders rally behind a coal industry determined to export this climate change poison to the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, a US drone strike in Baghdad killed a powerful Iranian general in a deliberate provocation of his government in Teheran. The man was despicable and was responsible for hundreds of deaths of American soldiers during the Iraq war, so few tears should be shed for his passing. However, the retaliation and escalation of the tensions between the US and Iran make me wonder if the killing was just a way to get the war so many people so evidently want.
In both the killing in Iraq and the climate induced wildfires in Australia, our species is being tested. What we do next will set the stage for our salvation or damnation. Unfortunately, in both cases we have chosen heedless idiots as leaders. I am not optimistic.
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