Anita Anand | If Leaders Choose Death Over Life, Can They Really be Trusted to Govern?

The shocking news of the Air India Dreamliner flight from Ahmedabad to London which crashed just minutes after take-off sent a wave of fear worldwide. Subsequently, many Air India flights and those of several other airlines had to be grounded or cancelled due to fuel shortages, engine problems, or diversions on long routes caused by airspace closures.

This is especially concerning for people traveling for work, study, family occasions, vacations or as tourists. Travelling by car, train, bus, or plane involves the risk of an accident, which could lead to injury or, in the worst case, death.

And yet, we treat life so lightly. Consider the recent wars and conflicts around the world, over the past few years, which have claimed countless lives and caused panic and fear, leading to poor mental and physical health.

On February 24, 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced what he called a “special military operation” to “de-militarise and de-Nazify” Ukraine, claiming that Russia had no plans to occupy the country. That was the beginning of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, and according to unofficial estimates, since then, about one million people have been wounded or killed. That conflict continues to this day.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack on southern Israel. Israel responded with air and land strikes, killing over 40,000 Palestinians till now, mostly women and children, displacing them, denying access to food, water, and resources, and leaving them with nowhere safe to go. That situation too persists to this day.

Closer to home, on April 22 this year, there was an attack on Hindu tourists at Pahalgam, a tourist resort in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. India responded two weeks later, by attacking terrorist camps in Pakistan across the border, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for sterner action against terrorism.

Late last month, the United States launched strikes on Iran’s key nuclear facilities, leading to the closure of airspace over Iran and parts of the Middle East. Flights were rerouted worldwide, with some returning to their original airports. In mid-June, Israel targeted Iranian military and nuclear sites, and Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israeli territories. Hundreds of people were injured, killed, or affected in both countries.

These ongoing conflicts, along with others, pose a threat to regional and global stability, economic systems, the environment, and the health of civilians. Now, there is growing talk of a looming third world war.

Air crashes and wars cause significant distress. Individuals and communities experience anxiety and suffering, which impair their daily functioning, accompanied by physical symptoms such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, trembling, and feelings of impending doom.

This is war anxiety, sometimes called nuclear anxiety, a typical response to news and images about conflict. An American Psychological Association poll found that 80 per cent of respondents reported significant stress because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which followed the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Finnish study found that adolescents worried about nuclear war were at increased risk of mental disorders five years later. Additionally, people prone to anxiety are more likely to seek out media coverage of crises, which then maintains a cycle of distress.

A common fallout of those involved directly with war and conflict is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a result of experiencing or witnessing traumatic events such as violence, accidents, or natural disasters. It manifests through intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and avoidance behaviours related to the traumatic event.

War and conflict harm people. However, governments remain unaware of this.

This is evident in the rise of conflicts and the increasing military budgets of many countries. At the recent Nato meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, US President Donald Trump emphasised the need for Nato members to increase their military budgets from two to five per cent. He succeeded.

In 2025, Israel’s total defence budget is approximately $36.9 billion, accounting for roughly 6.5 per cent of its GDP. It ranks among the top fifteen countries worldwide in military spending, accounting for 1.7 per cent of global military expenditure.

India’s 2024-25 defence budget increased to $74 billion, which is 1.89 per cent of the country’s projected gross domestic product (GDP).

The US allocates more funds to national defence than China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil combined. Imagine.

The US defence department’s fiscal year 2025 budget request is $849.8 billion.

Russia’s military budget grew from $9.23 billion in 2000 to $65.9 billion in 2021. In March 2024, the Russian business outlet Vedomosti reported that anti-depressant sales in Russia reached a five-year high early in the year. According to DSM Group, Russian pharmacies sold 3.6 million packs of anti-depressants in the first 11 weeks of 2024, up from 2.7 million packs in the same period in 2023. Psychiatrist Alexey Kazantsev noted that the war has “shortened planning horizons” and caused the decline of “emotional states”, potentially triggering mental disorders.

In Israel, at the Enosh Mental Health 2024 Conference in Tel Aviv, eleven months after the Gaza war began, health minister Uriel Buso stated that the country was experiencing its worst-ever mental health crisis due to the conflict. He called for the health budget to be doubled to approximately $162 million in 2025.

As military budgets grow, leaders of these nations and others involved in conflicts have chosen death over life. They are responsible for the poor mental and physical health of citizens, and future generations. Leaders who are supposed to protect their citizens are causing panic, fear, conflict, death and sorrow.

Can they be trusted to govern? No.