This is the morning in the week when our dislike for America On-Line’s decision to shed maintenance on their “classic” edition of the electronic communications system is the most irritating. In the old version, we could have dropped a copy of the one-page version of the report right after the title line so you could see what we are talking about. Sorry.

The other issue with the weekly is that it attempts to cover both regional and strategic issues, with the cut-off date for information being yesterday. That is a problem, since much of the world has already been awake for hours and is starting to think about lunch. That means we have to get engaged early and attempt to follow the stories that are breaking.

Here was one of the editorial challenges this morning: are we going to be at war this month with China over the resolution of Taiwan’s sovereignty? The idea is still a little staggering that we could be talking about something that horrific on an otherwise pleasant summer day. There is another and parallel issue that popped up this week. “Climate Emergency to Be Declared Tomorrow?”

We had heard about something like this for a long time. It was based on the assumption that the world was dangerously overheating. The key element is the notion of the word “emergency.” The term Boiling Oceans has been heard a few times, even if it sounds a little overboard. Compared with a more traditional war-at-sea scenario over the Taiwan Strait, the idea our ships and sailors would be taking on maritime combat certainly has a certain immediacy to it.

But to hear about just two of the emergencies with the dance-off line including the words “maybe tomorrow” for either is another emergency to pile on top of the ones we have heard about. The emergency associated with the weather has always been reported as something that would happen “soon.” Like within a decade or so. That would be an emergency, of course, but far enough away in time that the actual weather outside betrays the immediacy of the emergency.

The timing issue may have other emergencies wound up inside them, like a desperate attempt to remind us that things like the “US Economy” is doing all right. Inflation is down, as is unemployment. Or at least the government says so. But that veers across emergency categories. Try as we might, the idea that the oceans are going to start bubbling doesn’t have the same impact as things like the wildfires that just leveled the Hawaiian town of Lahaina. We remember it fondly. This morning they have an undeniable emergency in the aftermath of the passage of the flames.

But that reveals a weakness in emergencies and their declaration. The fires reported this season were severe, although the numbers of them were not records. They also “burned out” in the face of brave fire-fighters. But that was the problem- the emergency didn’t last long enough. That could be a similar problem with war against China. Like the Ukraine situation, the available ammunition stockpiles may be too low for sustained emergency operations.

And the climate thing. That is almost the perfect emergency. Unlike fire, it is always just over the horizon and the water might start bubbling. But nothing like the ‘end of snow’ seems to be happening, or at least not at the moment. What we need is an emergency that happens both horrifically fast and ominously distant. War with China might solve that crisis conundrum by wrapping them up into one larger emergency issue. We are not quite how to do it effectively, but we certainly are amused by the attempts.

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com