It’s Halloween, that day of autumn we reserve for thoughts of hauntings and a fun take on fear. Except for many of us, some frights better reserved for All Hallows Eve have already been keeping us up at night.
One is the announcement by the Trump administration that it plans to terminate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty dating from the days of President Reagan, an agreement used to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. The INF, say critics of the move, was a key step in ending the Cold War arms race, and the first of a series of disarmament agreements between the Americans and the Soviets that reduced the number of nuclear weapons deployed in the world from an almost unimaginable 70,000 in 1986 to a still-nightmarish 14,500 today.
In recent years, both American and Russian officials have accused the other side of developing weapons that violate the treaty. Regardless of blame, we would all sleep better if the administration turned to dedicated diplomacy before disregarding the INF altogether.
Another big bump in the night was delivered by a report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with its grim announcement that some effects of a warming climate are already inevitable, promising a veritable witch’s brew of severe weather, long-term drought, rising seas and crop failures. And that assumes a world that warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees F.) by the end of this century, something that may be unavoidable.
Can the worst of these scenarios be avoided? There is hope, says writer Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic: “As every climate scientist will tell you, the battle to prevent climate change entirely has already been lost. But the battle to blunt its effects ... has just begun.”
And for pure terror, it is hard to imagine a more frightening scenario than the recent killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a man who had written truthfully and critically of the ruling regime in his native Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the second day of October seeking documents he needed for his upcoming wedding. He never left. Reports indicate he was tortured, killed and then dismembered by Saudi agents.
Outrage over the incident is now haunting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman like a modern retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” – and we are glad to see it. One of Khashoggi’s aims as a journalist was to shine more light on the repressive ruling regime of Saudi Arabia. It is unfortunate, but his gruesome murder – and those who refuse to forget it – may result in more reform than his words could accomplish when he was alive.
Yet, we are fortunate to live in a community where Oct. 31 is still a day devoted to celebration. Dress up as your favorite frightening politician, be it Donald, Vladimir or Hillary. Gel your hair until it stands on end and go as Kim Jong-un.
But let’s be careful to not put any adult-sized scares into the best seasonal celebration ever devised for children. It’s their holiday – starting with the Downtown Durango Trick or Treat from 4 to 6 p.m. at 80 local businesses (visit downtowndurango.org for a list).
They celebrate it best.
