There is only one way forward in developing a mutual understanding of our respective values and cultures in lieu of fighting wars. We must learn communicative negotiation.
The ultimate form of planet environmental degradation is warfare. While we reduce our fossil fuel emissions, we had best negotiate our differences.
What I have learned in two combat tours and 36 years in the weapons systems business is that someone different than I may not have the same value system as I possess, but by learning from them I will be able to make distinctions between my values and theirs. It permits me to consider accepting the differences between us without prejudice, communicate with them and move forward on common objectives.
When governments and weapons makers treasure the economic windfalls in collective military industrial technology and refuse to negotiate, then political and military values on both sides of a world conflict collide.
Soldiers and civilians then die.
All wars eventually result in negotiated settlements. Avoiding them by learning and negotiation in the first place is the most effective war weapon and by far the least costly in materials, debt and lives.
A look over our shoulders at our recent warfare is useful when viewing our future while making prudent decisions regarding our financial and defense security. Every citizen from the individual voter to the politician must consider them.
Effective negotiation must involve learning the other party’s values, not simply the perceived threat they represent to us because we do not know them.
From the neighborhood to the boardroom, from the Statehouse to the Capitols and the powerful who run them, we would do well to learn more about those different from us before we fight.
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