Luxemburg

Passage:

“Business thrives in the ruins. Cities become piles of ruins; villages become cemeteries; countries, deserts; populations are beggared; churches, horse stalls. International law, treaties and alliances, the most sacred words and the highest authority have been torn in shreds. Every sovereign “by the grace of God” is called a rogue and lying scoundrel by his cousin on the other side. Every diplomat is a cunning rascal to his colleagues in the other party. Every government sees every other as dooming its own people and worthy only of universal contempt. There are food riots in Venice, in Lisbon, Moscow, Singapore. There is plague in Russia, and misery and despair everywhere.”

Interpretation:

Military has become the main industrial focus which is leaving the world in despair. The economy is suffering. People are dying. The population is poverty-stricken. Governments are neglecting their homeland and fail to only focus on international law, its treaties, and alliances. Religion is no longer shared amongst the majority of people. Finally, governments all over the world are oblivious to what they’re doing to their own people, but have the arrogance to notice the flaws of others, thus, causing riots for food because governments all over the globe are forgetting to provide its people with support and stability.

This means that governments around the world are forgetting the main principle which is to protect and serve their people. It seems as if leaders and politicians are acting careless towards their own countries. The lust of power seems to be the theme of this passage, and having a strong military and diplomatic relations are all that matters.  This was a time of military industrial dominance, and chaos was prevalent in most societies. This shows the displaced values in governments during this period.