[BRIEF NOTE] Fiction Imitating Reality

[rfmcdonald]

I've mentioned in the past that I'm involved in an online forum that's simulating the 22nd century. It's going interestingly enough so far, although there has recently been a series of war scares provoked by well-meaning powers wanting to rebuild failed states, and other well-meaning powers contesting these rights. A fictitious news article posted on the subject covers the reaction in early 22nd century Iraq.

Iraqis know all too well what "failed state" means these days: it means the more aggressive powers of the world show up, demand the right to fix things, and then demand the right to battle any other powers also showing up to fix things.

"It's not the helpers and fixers we really fear," said the Iraqi prime minister, "it's their threats to each other. Even back in the Saddam era, when Saddam had his friends and supporters in other nations, other governments were extremely against the American and British efforts, but no national government was insane enough to try to stop them by force! Now, what a nightmare it could be if one nation insisted on helping, let's say, our Kurdish population, and another said "no, we are going to stop you ,and we are sending our army to do it! Better to let the Kurds go there own way, than risk the armies of India and China clashing here, over the right to 'help' them!"

In fact, the fear of foreign intervention is evident. Much as American children of the 1950's and 1960's endured "duck and cover" drills, Iraqi children are trained in what do in the event of the national apocalypse that would presumably accompany any foreign attempt to bring aid. Iraqi children are taught to flee in terror at the sight of foreign aid workers.

One would almost think we're still in the 21st century.