This week, I wish to comment on the growing insecurity around the globe. There is a well-known phrase that states “violence begets violence.” I do not know from where the saying originates, but it seems to me to be a self-evident truth. I despair that so many powerful men do not seem to have learn the lessons of history and continue to use force and military might to such damaging effect.
I know that the regime in Iran is an awful one and has a shocking record on human rights. Many people are supporting the work of the Iranian Academics Society and other groups in raising awareness of the brutality of the Iranian regime, which has included indiscriminate executions and imprisonment, especially of women and ethnic minorities. But I doubt that was in the minds of Trump and Netanyahu when they unleashed their recent attacks on the country, especially with the President of the USA saying he intends to “bomb the hell” out of Iran.
Just as so often in the past, there have been the inevitable “retaliations” that have spread even more violence across the region, with ordinary people suffering further as a consequence.
There are so many historic examples. For example, I agree with the view that the Second World War came directly from the reparations that followed the First World War, which was itself caused by military blocs of European countries that were arguing about land in far-off continents that didn’t belong to any of them. The 1939-1945 conflict did come to an end, but not before tens of millions of people had lost their lives and it led to the “Cold War” and ideological conflicts which continue to the present day.
The first Gulf War of the early 1990s and the second Gulf War in the 2000s have certainly not led to greater stability, and I doubt that this latest conflict in the Middle East will be any different. Likewise, the horrific killings by Hamas in October 2023, led to the horrific attacks on Gaza and its civilian population by Israeli forces.
There are no easy answers as to how we address such conflicts, but there must be a better way and democratic countries need to take a lead and not resort to the use of violence with such haste. As Martin Luther King once said: “Violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Article published in the Cornish Guardian (18th March 2026) and West Briton (19th March 2026) newspapers