Royal pomp for world peace

TEHRAN,Dec.26(MNA)--Almost everyone is criticizing the fact that Britain spent so much money to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, commemorating her 60 years on the throne, but there is more to the story than meets the eye. The general argument is that the British royal family is rich and can pay for such things themselves and it would have been better to spend the money on more important things, like providing services to raise the standard of living of the less fortunate citizens of Britain or to alleviate the grinding poverty affecting the masses of the planet Earth. In an ideal world, that is what should be done. But unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. We live in the real world, with all its corruption and evil and cruelty and indifference to the plight of the oppressed masses. It’s not a pretty world, and of course all people of conscience should work to make things better, but in the meantime, we must deal with the hand we have been dealt. The argument in favor of spending vast amounts of wealth on royal pomp is simple and straightforward. If the money wasn’t spent on jubilee celebrations, it would be spent on much worse things, like upgrading nuclear weapons systems, other war machines designed to kill innocents, surveillance systems monitoring everyone, psychological operations, and mind control programs. So the money that seems like it was wasted on royal pomp is actually doing something positive since it has drained funds from more evil projects. One astute Muslim activist commented on the issue, saying, “I’m glad they spent all that money on Prince William’s royal wedding and the Diamond Jubilee. Every dollar, every pound, every euro they spend on royal celebrations is one less dollar or pound or euro they spend to kill people like me -- Muslims in the Islamic world and other people in the Global South.” And he’s right. Every dollar they spend on royal pomp is one less dollar they spend on war machines. And if the British government spends more money on royal celebrations, Britain might be compelled to cancel the Trident upgrade, which is a plan to replace the country’s four Vanguard class submarines, each of which have 48 nuclear warheads on board, with four new Trident submarines, with each of them also armed with 48 nuclear weapons. Britain’s UGM-133 Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles are each armed with three multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) nuclear warheads. According to the plan, the 16 Trident missiles on each of the old vessels would be transferred to the new Trident submarines. Perhaps if Prince Harry has a really expensive wedding, funds for the Trident upgrade will dry up. Peace activists could even start chanting a new slogan: “No nukes, yes to royal weddings.” All this might seem like a shortsighted short-term solution, but some short-term actions must be taken while working for the long-term goals. And of course, at the end of the day, those of us who are idealists must work hard to create the ideal world we are dreaming of, or at least some semblance of it. But at the same time, we must also realistically deal with the real world we are living in, as it is now. (By Hamid Golpira )