Christmas Cheer

The recent events in Pakistan have brought a distinctly uncheerful Christmas thought to my mind - the end of the world.

At the moment Pakistan is veering towards an abyss. Democracy is being squeezed from two sides - fanatical extremism on one side and reactionary conservatism (the ever-present military) on the other. if one side looks like it is about to topple democracy through chaos the other will doubtless attempt to step in and restore order. And we will probably be cheering them on because that is real-politik since Pakistan has something that Ben Ladin craves, and even Saddam and Qaddafi and the present Iranian regime lacked - the ability to field nuclear weapons.

Much international energy has gone into attempting to persuade the Iranians to abandon pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, witnessed by that excellent reality TV show Spooks. You can understand why - an Islamic nation with a government making radical noises would be perceived as a threat by Israel who would not sit on their hands - they acted once by bombing Iran twenty years ago when all that was there was the shell of a reactor. They would be liable to do something more drastic now. This isn't a path the world should want to go down.

But what would happen if Pakistan were to fall to extremists? A country which has been in an arms race with its neighbour, part of which culminated in a successful underground test detonation? What would we do then? Wait for the worse to happen, or see an invasion take place - a western one of an Asian nation? Try selling the justification of that around the world.... Pakistan won't fall yet. But it may be on its way.

We cannot uninvent nuclear bombs. Nor does it seem that we are able to control them. I heard of an expert conclude that with terrorism, global warming, collision with asteroids and bird flu we may only have a 1 in 2 chance of getting through the century intact. I hope he wasn't being optimistic.

So at this time of year when we remember the incarnation of Jesus Christ perhaps our renewed prayer should be come, Lord Jesus.

Comments

[I love Texas Haunted Houses]

I love the title of your blog. So true. You have a lot of really interesting posts here. It is so inspiring.