Is the security situation for Czechia, and the free world, the worst since World War II? What has lead us to this state? What can we, as businesses and individuals, do about it?
Waking Monday to newspaper articles describing how most of the world were begging the leaders of two of humanity’s major religions not to blow each other up generated feelings of discouragement.
This was my mood when I read the article on BIS chief Michal Koudelka’s assessment of the security of the Czechia. I will not contest where this moment ranks in terms of fear for our children’s future. I will note that the seeds of today were planted by our actions yesterday. What is happening on our internet feeds now is the surface phenomena of deeper issues that we have yet to address adequately. If we want a safer future tomorrow, we not only must face down the external threats today, but examine our own role in creating them.
First, mass migration is caused by many things, but one factor will grow. Climate models suggest that equatorial regions will become uninhabitable, and predict that dislocation of populations will increase throughout this century. This will also cause the failure of states, and increased conflict. As a global society, we have transformed climate change into a symbol of our political beliefs. Our politicians, business, university and media leaders have failed in their roles to frame the public debate on this issue so that we properly understand what science says on the subject, and what economists and others predict will be the costs and benefits of taking action or not taking action.
The Kremlin invaded Ukraine because it calculated that our individual interests would outweigh our national interests. This judgement was not merely the Kremlin projecting its own mindset on us, but also based on how we interacted with Russia since 1989. When Europe and America sanctioned Russia for seizing Crimea, reps of the two primary business organizations argued in a meeting with the US State Department that Czech companies had found a way to circumvent the sanctions, and therefore the sanctions should be eliminated. We should take a look at how exports to countries adjacent to Russia have been affected since February 2022.
Last week, political reps at our Future of Health Care event blamed politics for a lack of improvement in health care, and pointed the finger at one man. We elect politicians to solve the differences through compromise (or we should). Creating demons wins elections, but it does not create good conditions for negotiated agreements that advance society.
Mr. Koudelka is right that we face many external threats. How we handle our internal affairs will determine how successful we are in overcoming them. This applies equally to the United States as it does to Czechia, and to all nations that want individual freedom, democracy and free enterprise to prevail.
