It seems to me, that while we have always had hot spots of war and insurrection (so to speak) around the world, these events seem to be increasing in recent years. A lot of it's simply people pushing back against corrupt government, like the current riots in Bangladesh that has forced the government to cut the internet nationwide.
Not long ago it was Myanmar just across the border, a military coup took control to "Fix" the problems there but of course they have gotten a lot worse. Their problems began when they couldn't afford fertilizer for their crops anymore. Remember Libya? Good ol Gadaffi? Since he was thrown out that nation has become a failed state, with open air slave markets. Hard to believe in this day and age but it's a fact. All across the middle east we have anarchy. Spain had, and still does, a big problem with The Catalan independence movement which seeks the independence of Catalonia. The separatists are losing ground but it's still ongoing.
Then Europe with the War Drums beating loud, China and Taiwan, North and south Korea, Half of South America in turmoil with dictatorships and socialist strong men taking power. Mexico basically a failed state and now even North America on the brink with the massive illegal immigration, the crime and drug epidemic and it's tortured politics. Do we see a pattern here? Shortly after WWII we saw a lot of turmoil too but it was mostly the people within a nation fighting to throw off colonial control. Britain lost nearly all it's overseas territories, the US was told to leave the Philippines and Africa went back to the African Peoples. Today it is people fighting against their own governments and I have probably missed many in my list above.
So WTF is going on! A Global war cycle for one, brought on by resource scarcity. All of Western Europe is facing a looming Gas supply crisis. No more backyard BBQ's? Well it goes a bit beyond that. The gas is burnt to keep them warm in Winter and a lot of their industry runs on it as well as their suburban power grids. It's also the feed-stock for the all important Fertilizer industry (FOOD). I see the war tensions in Europe as being an energy war. That's what WWII was all about BTW. Germany seeking oil and minerals and food, Japan the same, but oil mostly because the US had embargoed it over the Manchurian invasion. So Japan went South and took the oil fields of the Dutch and English in response. Pearl harbor was simply a strategy of preventing the US pacific fleet from interfering with that takeover. But we all know the history, what many don't know though is that history repeats, very reliably.
I have followed these events much like other people follow Band of Brothers, Presumed Innocent, 2-1/2 Men and Seinfeld back in the day. I have no time for such entertainment, I'd rather read a Physics book, work on a motorcycle or... Research global affairs. I doubt anyone on this forum still believes in "Francis Fukuyama's end of history". That concept was welcome back in the relative peace of the 1990's. It wasn't so much that people believed it would be so, but rather that they wanted it to be so.
Not long ago it was Myanmar just across the border, a military coup took control to "Fix" the problems there but of course they have gotten a lot worse. Their problems began when they couldn't afford fertilizer for their crops anymore. Remember Libya? Good ol Gadaffi? Since he was thrown out that nation has become a failed state, with open air slave markets. Hard to believe in this day and age but it's a fact. All across the middle east we have anarchy. Spain had, and still does, a big problem with The Catalan independence movement which seeks the independence of Catalonia. The separatists are losing ground but it's still ongoing.
Then Europe with the War Drums beating loud, China and Taiwan, North and south Korea, Half of South America in turmoil with dictatorships and socialist strong men taking power. Mexico basically a failed state and now even North America on the brink with the massive illegal immigration, the crime and drug epidemic and it's tortured politics. Do we see a pattern here? Shortly after WWII we saw a lot of turmoil too but it was mostly the people within a nation fighting to throw off colonial control. Britain lost nearly all it's overseas territories, the US was told to leave the Philippines and Africa went back to the African Peoples. Today it is people fighting against their own governments and I have probably missed many in my list above.
So WTF is going on! A Global war cycle for one, brought on by resource scarcity. All of Western Europe is facing a looming Gas supply crisis. No more backyard BBQ's? Well it goes a bit beyond that. The gas is burnt to keep them warm in Winter and a lot of their industry runs on it as well as their suburban power grids. It's also the feed-stock for the all important Fertilizer industry (FOOD). I see the war tensions in Europe as being an energy war. That's what WWII was all about BTW. Germany seeking oil and minerals and food, Japan the same, but oil mostly because the US had embargoed it over the Manchurian invasion. So Japan went South and took the oil fields of the Dutch and English in response. Pearl harbor was simply a strategy of preventing the US pacific fleet from interfering with that takeover. But we all know the history, what many don't know though is that history repeats, very reliably.
I have followed these events much like other people follow Band of Brothers, Presumed Innocent, 2-1/2 Men and Seinfeld back in the day. I have no time for such entertainment, I'd rather read a Physics book, work on a motorcycle or... Research global affairs. I doubt anyone on this forum still believes in "Francis Fukuyama's end of history". That concept was welcome back in the relative peace of the 1990's. It wasn't so much that people believed it would be so, but rather that they wanted it to be so.
