“When a war breaks out, people say: “It’s too stupid; it can’t last long.” But though a war may well be “too stupid,” that doesn’t prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.” – Albert Camus, The Plague
How could your nihilist resist talk of full scale geopolitical conflict? It is the type of thing that gets right at the absurdity of our existence. We like to think of ourselves as sophisticated, but the scale of modern conflict does not make it any different than a chimpanzee raid, a battle between rival lion prides, or a territorial dispute between hummingbirds. There are many articles on offer in this week’s edition on the military buildup along the border between Ukraine and Russia. It is accepted in the West (and supported by mountains of evidence) that Putin is a very successful kleptocrat. He and his associates are estimated to have grafted hundreds of billions of dollars away from their fellow citizens for their own personal gain. Anything political or military moves made by the Kremlin are framed as being in service of their own perpetuation and freedom. It was Putin that protected Yeltsin when he came to power from the graft that he engaged in the 90’s and is the main reason why he was groomed for the role. Putin perpetuated the graft and has always been worried that any new regime that follows him might not look so kindly back on his time in power and prosecute him for his greed.[1] Oil prices are up which leaves our shirtless horseback riding comrade a bit more comfortable since the fundamentals of the Russian economy are dependent on this singular resource. In ‘The guns of January’ the magazine considers what Russia’s military options are. Though considering the comments that follow, it seems that everything is on the table. According to Putin today on Feb 9th…
“…if Ukraine joins NATO and attempts to bring Crimea back by military means the European countries will automatically be pulled into a war conflict with Russia. Of course NATO and Russia potentials are incomparable. We understand it. But we also understand that Russia is one of the leading nuclear States and by some modern components it even outperforms many. There will be no winners and you will be pulled into this conflict against your will. You won’t even have time to blink your eye when you execute Article 5. Mr. President Macron of course doesn’t want this and I don’t want it… and I don’t want it. Which is why he is here torturing me for six straight hours…”
So you know, basically a somewhat less crazy version of North Korea, but with the potential for more wide ranging consequences. This is the age old outward display of strength against a manufactured enemy to distract the citizens of Russia, and a bit of opportunism. First, the nihilist would wonder if this is a joke? Since it sounds like a parody of a nuclear armed warmonger, the internet has taught some of us to be skeptical about anything you read or see. Unfortunately a real person with real weapons of mass destruction made this statement and the rest of us are subject to the consequences. It is common for those not familiar with the fact of nihilism, and what we can infer from it, to assume that a nihilist has no opinions about geopolitics. Yes life has no inherent meaning, but the nihilist can still be passively interested in the perpetuation of her interests. Though nothing ultimately matters[2], there are plenty of reasons to be opposed to violence of any kind. But I think it is better to point to the deeper issues that are highlighted by fascination with a ground conflict.
For one, the media and their shareholders love when this happens. And because we indulge them and let faraway problems distract us from our systemic issues, they make hundreds of millions of dollars and spread fear and false narratives. The way these stories are treated, it’s like the fresh new hit of the winter. Except, we have seen this movie before. Hundreds of times before. The perpetuation of geopolitical conflict between arbitrary sets of people, with arbitrary interests invoked by the sad power hungry people is just frankly played out. The nihilist is tired of the same plot and narrative. The lack of new thinking and reliance on old mammalian ways of settling disputes. Everything is a rerun in nation state conflict. This is not to deny the incredible hardship that befalls those affected, but to emphasize the ridiculous, repetitive nature of it. It seems that human beings really are incapable of learning from the past. Yet, in this case, the Russian leader seems to have learned too narrow of a lesson. He is said to have learned that violence and suppression are the only ways to hold onto power. That having power grants you special status among the apes. Thinking yourself special among the apes is what the nihilist would always deny as there no objective standards by which you can support that claim[3].
Yes nothing ultimately matters, but it is this very fact that should inspire reserve and care when it comes to living this life. It is never a justification for a disregard for the pursuit of happiness of other human beings. The lack of purpose for our species is a good reason to take this thing less seriously, it is also quite demanding if you are committed to our faculties of reason. The nihilist does care, experience demands interest even when rationality dismisses it. It is rational to infer from the fact of existential nihilism that we eliminate poverty and chill out. The dictates of human progress can be dismissed as unfounded when we consider that on the whole people seek pleasure and pain[4]. This is not an endorsement of utilitarianism (the nihilist is also dismissive of moral frameworks as independently true of some axioms), it is only a recognition that you have to take some propositions as granted[5]. If progress comes at the expense of suffering and discontent, or another emergent desire of the collective consciousness/society, it should be abandoned or mitigated for the simple reason that no one asked to be here.That is what the universe demands with its unthinking void and infinite time. There is grand design or purpose for our particular type of ape. There is nothing humanity could accomplish that is the culmination of our striving that would make all this suffering worthwhile. The same goes for nation states. People like Putin will always rely on tribalistic thinking to maintain power. Whether the glory of mother Russia or the freedom of America, these are the perpetual myths that should be questioned but that also unfortunately bind some of us together. I have seen enough wars to know that they will mostly be ignored in one’s day to day and the collective consciousness will forget about how ridiculous the last one was, and the media will just play along for the ratings.
From the Article, we learn that weapons of all kinds are being shipped on both sides of the border. Just to highlight that the only real victors are arms dealers which is probably good for some rural county in Ohio. That the issue is of course over a manufactured threat from NATO. Though the nihilist would point out how the US cannot claim innocence on any of these fronts. Could you really put it past the interests of the military intelligence industrial complex to push for conflict with Russia if it served their interests? But I digress[6]. The Economist writes in ‘Momentum building for war’ that ‘War can yet be avoided, but time is running out.’ This is the kind of bull shit that the nihilist despises. The power of a why question. “Mr. Putin Why are you doing A? Cause B. Why B? Cause C. Why C?… well I don’t really know.” That is the power of a nihilistic way of thinking. It is the extra question that leaves the emperor with no clothes. That this drive is based on an unfounded assumption. And if you have no rational support for your activities, you can just as easily abandon them. The games that these assholes like to play is insulting and stupid, but then ‘stupidity has a knack of getting its way.’
[1] This is common knowledge at this point and any cursory search will yield scores of articles on the subject. The Panama and the Pandora Papers cache found direct evidence of Putin hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in the accounts of close friends.
[2] Since ‘mattering’ is a relational property. Some things matter to people, to a country, to the future. What the nihilist actually denies is that life has any inherent meaning or purpose.
[3] Sidebar: when Putin was tasked with going to war with the Chechen people to retaliate against the supposed terrorist attack on a group of residential buildings in and around Moscow, (further sidebar, it was a total false flag (for real though) since they found FSB explosives in a couple similar complexes that did not go off and everyone that has investigated this is in prison or poisoned with radioactivity) Putin said “We will be chasing the terrorists, and waste them in an outhouse. And when you think about it… how is that any different than the that Bush gave after 9/11?… ‘We are coming for you’? “and the people who knocked these buildings down, will hear all of us soon!” Yay retributive justice. That eye for an eye shit is also so played out. I mean how old is Hammurabi and who gives a fuck what he thinks.
[4] Where not all pleasure is desirable in respect to some goals, and not all pain is detrimental.
[5] Wittgenstein called them ‘hinge propositions’ because they hold up the door.
[6] We won’t even mention the fact that Biden himself in the 90’s as a senator stated that the only thing that would bring war back to Europe was putting more NATO defenses on countries that border the West of Russia. Our politics are a joke.
The Westerlund Project 