Covid : a later day Shikhandi ?

In Mahabharata , we learned :

Arjun was simply unable to defend himself against the volley of arrows , coming from Pitamah Bhishm

There was hardly any question of being able to defend his army and his brothers

Realizing that Arjun was no match for the archery of Bhishm, Lord Krishna advised him :

“ Arjun , hide behind Shikhandi – then shoot your arrows to Bhishm.

Shikhandi belongs to third gendre and Bhishm will never shoot arrows which may hurt Shikhandi “

When Arjun followed Krishna’s advice, Bhishm lay down his bow and stopped shooting arrows

For the rest of the story  , read Mahabharat ( or watch TV Serial )

In today’s later-day version, China seems to have found its own Shikhandi in the form of Corona

With a difference

Whereas Arjun was fighting for his rightful “ share “ in the Hastinapur kingdom , China has “ exported “ Corona the Shikhandi “, all over the world , to weaken from within, the economies of these countries !

China has succeeded in getting countries to divert all their resources for fighting this “ invisible enemy “ – even as that “ visible enemy “ China, secretly mounts following kinds of attacks , with some “ feeble “ resistance  :

Ø  Attacking Indian soldiers and killing 20 , as reported in media this morning

Ø  Attacking the democratic set-up in Hong Kong

Ø  Crushing the voice of peace-loving people of Tibet

Ø  Sabotaging the parliament of Nepal

Ø  Taking over a major port in Sri Lanka

Ø  Posting thousands of its workers in Pak-Occupied-Kashmir , under pretext of OBOR

Ø  Constructing artificial islands in South China Sea for putting up Military bases

Ø  Repeatedly threatening to “ annexe  “ Taiwan

Ø  Giving all out support to North Korea to threaten whole world with its Nukes

Ø  Taking possession of a strategic port near Karachi – Pakistan

Ø  Buying out most of the mineral mines, all over Africa

Ø  Waging trade wars with most countries of the World by dumping its products

This list is, by no means, comprehensive ! Hardly a day begins without some Chinese attack on yet another front !

A few western countries have come together and formed some sort of a United Front to thwart the Chinese ambition of Global Domination

With yesterday’s attack on its soldiers, India may be tempted to join such a Front

Within the next few days, country after country , will come forward to condemn the Chinese attack on India and express their “ support “ for India

Question is :

Not that we should even think of it, but, in case of an all-out ( or even a limited ) war with China , how many of these “ supporters “ will be willing to send their own armies to join the Indian army at the border to fight the Chinese ?

Short Answer :

None

Of course , most of these countries ( notably, USA – Russia – France – UK – Germany ), will offer to “ Sell “ to India, all kinds of tanks – rockets – fighter planes – missiles etc., on easy Credit Terms  !

By keeping India and China at “ daggers drawn “, and thereby selling billions of dollars’ worth of weapons, these western countries can revive their own Covid-ravaged sagging economies and provide millions with jobs they have lost !

They have no love lost for starving migrant Indian workers !

Leaving aside any boycott of the Chinese Goods, none of these western countries will allow India-China skirmishes to come in the way of “ exporting “ their own goods to China ( or India )

Forget all talk of FREE TRADE and GLOBALIZATION and MULTI–LATERAL trade agreements ( and, may be WTO ? )

In this “ Dog eat Dog “ world , it simply boil downs to :  Each on his own and Each for himself  :

In a World-wide global Trade War, there are neither any permanent friends nor any permanent enemies

Hey !

We cannot even trust that “ Enemy of Enemy “ as a Friend  !

So , what is the way forward  ?

Ø  World has to learn to live with China- whose existence cannot be wished away

Ø  Notwithstanding this “reality of life “, world must unite to do away with political or economic domination of any one country ( eg : USA – Russia – China ) or any block of countries ( Eg; NATO – CENTO – EU etc )

Ø  Even as poor countries struggle to provide a single meal to its starving people ( over 1 billion ), rich countries would have to accept a lower “ Standard of Living “ ( 1 % GDP for 10 years ? )

Ø  10 % of the people of the World, just cannot be allowed to own 90 % of world’s wealth. Political – Economic and Legal solutions will have to be put in place whereby, by 2030, there is a much more “ Equitable Distribution “ of world’s wealth .

Ø  By 2030, 40 % of the people must own 80 % of the World’s wealth , with the remaining 60 % of people owning the balance 20 %  of the wealth

Ø  There will have to be some UPPER LIMIT on the wealth of a person or a country

Ø  Despite such lofty / desirable goals  having been aired in the past, neither Capitalism , nor Communism nor Socialism , have been successful in reducing this “ Inequity “ between the few extreme RICH and the billions of extreme POOR

Ø  As far as the choice of a system of POLITICAL GOVERNANCE is concerned, let there be a debate whether multi-party democratic pluralism , should be tried 

Those keen to engage in such a debate, may want to look up :

Boycott Chinese Products ? A Game Two can play  ………………………………..[ 09 June 2020 ]

Dear Shri Modiji,

No one knows it better than yourself that this is NOT a ZERO-SUM game, where one party wins and the other party loses

The only sensible thing is to “ Keep Talking “ , keeping in mind

Nash Equilibrium ?   ……………………………………….[ 20 Sept 2017 ]

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /   17  June  2020