 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
But you cannot say, with any semblance of logic, that you are against war but in favour of the present system, according to which, in a dispute, every government is the ultimate judge in its own case. If war is ever abolished, it will have to be by the establishment of an international government possessed of irresistible armed forces.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Right and Might (written in early of 1930s and pub. in 1975 in Mortals and Others, v.1, 1975.
More info.:https://russell-j.com/SEIGI.HTM
* a brief comment, Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Although they oppose war, each country maintains that it has the right to self-defense, and that it is necessary to develop defense capabilities (including collective defense) that can compete with potential enemies. As a result, each country (world) spends an enormous amount of money on defense. If those budgets were used to fight poverty and correct disparities, it would be possible to alleviate many misfortunes, but these voices are being drowned out under the slogans of "protecting the country" and "protecting the lives of the people." Since the United Nations does not have that power, we cannot escape from the illusion that peace is maintained through a military balance between the eastern and western superpowers. If Japan declares permanent neutrality and transfers most of its Self-Defense Forces to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (a mixed force of various countries) and dispatches them as peacekeeping forces around the world, any country (a hypothetical enemy's country North Korea) would not try to attack Japan. ``Establishing an international government with military power'' will take a considerable amount of time, but my proposal should be possible to implement quickly. Of course, Japanese government officials would think that following the US approach would be the easiest and most profitable, but...