This updated design, by Danuta Bennett, has a number of new features. One of the elements I would like to draw your attention to is the set of Dolmens in the background, which are, originally, Neolithic burial sites. Stonehenge, too, was in part a burial site, as was Woodhenge, before Stonehenge was constructed. Of course, Woodhenge rotted away, being made of wood! Stone lasts a bit longer…. I am pleased to announce Danuta Bennett has joined the Board of Directors of Peacehenge. She is a gifted graphic designer and artist.

JT

This is an article by Jonathan Powell, one of the main negotiators who made peace in Northern Ireland possible after decades of violence. Powell used to work for Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, but he is now working for Keir Starmer, the current UK prime minister.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/10/lesson-9-11-peace-taliban?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It was a terrible thing for the people of Hiroshima. It was a good thing because it, along with the dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki on August 9th, ended the war with Japan, saving countless lives. How you get to peace is not simple most of the time. The key is not to start a war in the first place, for Russian not to invade Ukraine, for example. The problem is often the ego of one person, the sheer arrogance of one powerful person. We must, as much as possible, not let these charismatic scheming psychopaths get into positions of power in the first place.

Perhaps the starkest reminder of the destruction visited on Hiroshima is the Atomic Bomb Dome. Built by a Czech architect in 1915, it was the Industrial Promotion Hall until the bomb exploded almost directly above it. Everyone inside was killed, but the building was one of very few left standing near the epicenter.. A decision was made after the war to preserve the shell as a memorial. The building has since become a haunting symbol of the city, and was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1996. If you are in Hiroshima, wander by this building in the evening when it is quiet and the ruins are floodlit.

JT

JT

Here is the latest design by graphic artist, Danuta Bennett.

JT

Thank you to artist and graphic designer, Danuta Bennett, for this updated version of the schematic of Peacehenge.

JT

This is a wonderful podcast on Megaliths, including Stonehenge:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jkzg?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

JT

What is the Peacehenge update on the state of peace in the world?   We are moving backwards, with more war, and autocracies in the world growing. 

The Economist magazine ranks countries on a scale of how democratic they are, and the US is in the “flawed democracies” category, ranked at 30th in terms of democratic qualities compared with other countries. 

Norway and New Zealand are 1st and 2nd in terms of the qualities of their democracies. 

With Putin’s war against Ukraine – an attempt using brute force to bring Ukraine back into the Russian Empire – we see a barbaric use of military power by both sides with a massive number of civilian and military casualties. 

Peacemaking in this situation currently seems futile.  In many ways it has turned into a proxy war between the US and its Western allies against Russia. 

The military industrial complex in the US is benefiting enormously from a massive injection of US government funding to manufacture military hardware for this war.   The same is the case for Western allies, like the UK, who have ramped up military production to support Ukraine. If Ukraine attempts to take back Crimea from Russia, I would not be surprised to see Putin use tactical nuclear weapons to protect Crimea. 

Indeed, if Ukraine seriously tries to take back the parts of Eastern Ukraine now occupied by Russian forces, it is quite foreseeable that Putin, in an act of desperation to retain the territory his forces have invaded, would also use tactical nuclear weapons. 

We did a lot of complaining about the COVID pandemic.  Now we have a cost of living crisis across the world, with food and energy costs increasing by absurdly high percentages.  Agricultural costs, such as for fertilizer, have gone through the roof. Putin must be glad to see how his war is wreaking havoc with the world economy. He must also be glad that McDonalds is no longer in Russia, instead they have opened up their own version of McDonalds called Tasty and That’s It! Coke is gone too. The Russian outposts of American economic imperialism have closed down, and in their place have arisen Russian equivalents.

The United Nations appears impotent to intervene in the Ukraine war, with China and India backing Russia, making the UN Security Council more of a UN Insecurity Council.

We are facing very difficult times ahead, with China threatening to invade Taiwan, and Israel more hawkish than ever, and moving in the direction of immobilizing key parts of its own judicial branch. 

This year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, largely because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been.

In the middle of this Apple, Amazon, the major oil companies, and other transnational corporations continue to make enormous quarterly profits, and the juggernaut of capitalism, or state-directed economies, chugs forward, creating an increasingly greater gap between the rich and the poor. 

Climate change continues to destroy the ice that polar bears need to survive, and destroys the coast of eastern England leading to parts of villages collapsing into the ever rising ocean.

If Jesus or Buddha  were here they would probably say we are screwed. 

JT

If I had been sitting in my apartment in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, a month before Putin’s military invaded, I would have left Ukraine, probably by car or van, so I could take as much of my stuff with me as possible. The tea leaves in my cup all pointed to a full-scale very violent invasion. And that is what happened at the end of February.

If you want peace, sometimes you have to leave what will become the battlefield.

Putin’s methods are brutal and without any signs of compassion. He is following in the footsteps of Stalin. What would you do if you had been living in Ukraine as Russia encircled a large part of the border with the machinery of warfare?

What is the message of Peacehenge? It is that Putin’s war is following the tradition of many empire builders, from the Romans (whose legions were totally brutal as they gained more and more territory) to Hitler.

At some point, Ukraine will be back as a place run by Ukrainians. Who knows how many years from now that will be. As a student of war and peace, I am impressed by the role of non-violent resistance, and its effectiveness versus violent resistance. Here is a short video by an academic, Erica Chenoweth, who is one of the most famous American writers on whether you should tackle a brutal dictator with guns or roses. Here is a primer by Erica, on how and why non-violence is the best approach:

In terms of a “just war”, I am glad the Ukrainians are holding onto territory around Kiev, and pushing the mighty Russian war machine backwards. But when I see the total devastation using missiles and bombs of Mariupol, and the countless deaths there, talk about successfully taking on a dictator with non-violent resistance doesn’t fit. Putin could have been pushed out of power years ago had the Russians been strong enough to do that, but they didn’t act when they could, and now it’s too late. Timing is everything.

I’m going to leave you with this chilling video of the destruction of Mariupol by the Russians using artillery. If we are to believe Erica Chenoweth, 4 percent of the Russian population in a concerted movement five or ten years ago could have brought Putin down. Now it is too late.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2022/mar/24/drone-footage-shows-scale-of-devastation-in-mariupol-ukraine-video

JT