Fragments

Posted on by Opher

Fragments

Buried in the rubble

Burnt to the bone.

Pierced in the liver.

Sunk like a stone.

Plummeting from the sky

With the force of Armageddon

Slashing through children’s flesh

Targeted dead on.

Blown to smithereens

In the name of Gilgamesh

Selecting the innocent

The clinics and the crèche.

Can they be forgiven?

Designers and plotters?

Manufacturing devils

With computers and jotters?

Opher 20.4.2025

I’m watching the genocide in Gaza as Trump and Netanyahu team up to pulverise and destroy.

The idea of deliberately targeting hospitals, schools and aid workers is obscene. It is a policy used in Syria, Ukraine and Gaza.

We are witnessing genocide.

It’s barbaric.

Trump, Putin and Netanyahu, and all their generals and policy makers, should be dragged before the international courts and made to pay.

There is no excuse.

I do not sympathise with Hamas. I despise Islam and all religions. Religious extremists are maggots. But the selection of civilians, women and babies is unforgiveable. There can never be an excuse for genocide!

The Incredible cost of war!!

Posted on by Opher

I was just trawling through the web trying to see what the losses and costs of the Ukraine war were.

Staggering!!

 ‘According to a Nato official who spoke to NBC on condition of anonymity, up to 40,000 Russian troops were either killed, injured, had been captured or had disappeared. Between 7,000 and 15,000 are thought to have been killed, the officials said as he shared Nato’s latest intelligence assessment on the war in Ukraine.’

Losses of equipment:

TypeNumber destroyedUnit costTotal cost
Tanks647$3.7 million$2384 million
Planes77$30 million$2310 million
Artillery systems330$14.5 million$4785 million
Helicopters50£17 million£850 million
     $10,349 million

That’s without the cost of the missiles, shells, drones, bullets, fuel, trucks, bowsers and other equipment.

Just think what a difference that sort of money could have made?

The Iraq war cost the USA $1.922 trillion.

The Afghan war cost the USA $5.8 trillion.

No wonder so many of us are poor!!

We are utterly mad!! Instead of building a better world we are destroying it!!

Poetry – Forecast of War

Posted on by Opher

Forecast of War

The government has issued a red alert.

The approaching storm is forecast to bring much devastation to the whole area.

It will start with a hail of incoming missiles, squalls of rockets, and gusts of smoke interspersed with light, patchy, infantry.

This will be followed by prolonged showers of shells along with localised bombing, accompanied by blasts of intense heat. There will be a loud droning and stratospheric vapour trails inducing intense periods of terror.

People are asked to stay under cover until the storm has passed and all tanks are empty. There is danger of falling masonry and low flying helicopters.

Shortly after the first onslaught, another front is forecast to charge through, bringing strong winds of disillusionment, a severe rise in blood pressure, with localised tornados of fear and horror, caused by drifts of corpses, leading to floods of tears.

Once the storm has passed it will leave heavy bursts of permanent trauma and emotional whirlwinds in its wake. The aftermath will entail dealing with much psychological debris and emotional damage.

There is concern among forecasters that these extreme events are merely the beginning of political climate change. The normal interchange of current affairs has been knocked off-kilter by large flurries of greed, lust and paranoia, leading to extensive frosty relations. They are concerned that we are heading for a new age where underlying trends are much hotter and more volatile.

Forecasters are presently studying the skies for any clouds of ballistic missiles which could herald a cataclysmic event likely to result in a permanent winter.

They remain hopeful that we can avert disaster through global cooperation and goodwill.

First, we must weather the storm. Stay safe. We are subject to forces beyond our control.

Opher 2.4.2022

This has to be read in the voice of a weather forecaster.

I’m not sure that it is a poem, as such. But then what is?

I was also not sure whether it was making too light of something that is so horrific.

Why are human beings so mindlessly nasty?

Can violence ever be an answer to anything? I’ll ask Will Self.

War is diabolical and all who practice it should be locked up! The damage it does to human minds is permanent. No wonder so much of human civilisation is such a mess. Most people are screwed up due to violence.

The victims become perpetrators.

War – Edwin Starr – lyrics about the stupidity of war – there’s always a better way other than violence.

Posted on by Opher

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This is from when Soul really did mean Soul. This song was about the Vietnam War but it could have been any conflict. We build things up and we knock them down out of greed, hatred, fear and fanaticism. There seems no end to the violence and cruelty of human beings.

What we need is peace, love, tolerance, freedom, humanity, sharing, and a helping hand. Help build a positive zeitgeist based on brotherhood/sisterhood.

War – by Edwin Starr

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y’all

War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Ohhh, war, I despise
Because it means destruction
Of innocent lives

War means tears
To thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
And lose their lives

I said, war, huh
Good God, y’all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, it ain’t nothing
But a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Ooooh, war
It’s an enemy to all mankind
The point of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die
Aaaaah, war-huh
Good God y’all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it, say it, say it
War, huh
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y’all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, it ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker
War, it’s got one friend
That’s the undertaker
Ooooh, war, has shattered
Many a young mans dreams
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious
To spend fighting wars these days
War can’t give life
It can only take it away

Ooooh, war, huh
Good God y’all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, it ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way

Ooooooh, war, huh
Good God y’all
What is it good for
You tell me
Say it, say it, say it, say it

War, huh
Good God y’all
What is it good for
Stand up and shout it
Nothing