When crises collide, what happens next?

 

There are so many crisis points worldwide at the moment that there's no predicting what might happen next.  A development in one crisis may precipitate developments in another - or even a new crisis to add to those already on our plate.

Axios identifies five current crises:

1. Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack, and growing fear of a spreading war that reaches to Iran and beyond.
2. Vladimir Putin meeting in China this week with Xi Jinping to further strengthen their anti-America alliance.
3. A malicious Iran.
4. North Korea's frequent testing of long-range, nuclear-capable missiles.
5. "A new weapon is being deployed in all these conflicts: a massive spread of doctored or wholly fake videos to manipulate what people see and think in real time."

It worries about what might happen next.

Never before have we talked to so many top government officials who, in private, are so worried about so many overseas conflicts at once.

Why it matters: We don't like to sound dire. But to sound a siren of clinical, clear-eyed realism: U.S. officials say this confluence of crises poses epic concern and historic danger.

. . .

Not one of the crises can be solved and checked off. All five could spiral into something much bigger.

. . .

These simultaneous threats are hitting at the very moment the American political system seems — and sometimes is — literally broken.

• It's not just that Republicans don't have a House speaker and can't seem to elect one, or that we might shut down the government in the middle of this mess, or that we're hurtling toward another toxic presidential election in which big chunks of both parties want different candidates.
• Former top intelligence officials tell us domestic unrest is one of their biggest fears — whether it's triggered by court rulings against former President Trump or protests over war in the Middle East. Biden allies frame these flare-ups as a reminder that global chaos requires calm and experience. "With age comes wisdom," Ron Klain, Biden's first chief of staff, told us.

But there has been a total collapse of people's trust in the opposing party, the media, what they see or share on social platforms, and even the top-secret intelligence the government relies on to measure these threats.

• This, as much as the five individual threats above, is what worries officials. They know things could get worse — fast — and require tough actions — fast. And no one knows whether Congress or the public could unite in an emergency.

There's more at the link.

I think those five crises are too narrowly tailored, and ignore a number of other crises that are imminent, such as:

• The US deficit is out of control, growing by about $2 trillion over the past year alone.  Effectively, we're having to borrow more than $166 billion every month just to fund our current expenditure.  How could we afford a war on top of that?
• The migration surge across our southern border is completely out of control, and is putting immense strain on not just our financial, but also our social fabric.  If foreign crises take up too much attention, the situation could get much worse, very quickly.  Who will deal with it?
• The ongoing conflict between progressive-left statists and conservative constitutionalists.  If a war demands immediate and urgent attention, will it also lead to a crackdown against internal opposition, a disregard for constitutional norms?  It's happened before, and could easily happen again.

There are many others I could cite, but you get the idea.

As a nation in an unstable world, we're balanced on a knife-edge right now.  Things could very easily tip out of control.  For those so inclined, I strongly urge prayer for peace and stability.  For all of us, people of faith or otherwise, I strongly suggest preparing for what may lie ahead, as best we can.

Peter