I literally didn't realise this part of the forum still exists!
Diebert van Rhijn wrote:However, to understand a topic, also the complete opposite needs to be stated (if possible, reasonably) just to get some contrast. This I'll do here first.
To understand a topic, the complete opposite absolutely does not need to be stated.
terrorism is certainly there but still pales to the massive, ugly wars the West were engaged in with each other in earlier centuries so in which way it's worse?
In the previous century itself, actually. Two wars that were actually a single war that destroyed European civilization for good and paved the way for American hegemony over Europe. Were they even necessary? Many place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Central Powers/Axis, while admonishing the Allies only insofar as they were harsh in terms of *retribution*.
More reasonable people say that WWI was absolutely avoidable and only the stupidity and greed of the powers-that-be caused it. Others, who are even more reasonable, say that it was not, in fact, avoidable, but not because the bad guys wanted it, but rather because it was a time when the paths of development followed by several nations/empires culminated and clashed with each other. Germany, for example, was an industrial powerhouse desperately short of the one resource that was required to develop modern industry, and therefore dependent on rivals for the trade or exchange of the same. England and France no longer enjoyed the happy guarantees of the Victorian era, and their empires (especially that of the former) were unstable and stagnant. The USA, despite its massive land, resources and industrial capacity was a second-rate power that desperately sought an opportunity to play with the big boys (or rather, prove that it already *was* a big boy). And of course Austria-Hungary and Turkey were both ex-big boys who were now doddering grandmas that the real big boys tipped their hats to out of respect and pity. Russia was an overextended and poorly managed superpower.
Wars never have anything to do with political ideology, religion or anything resembling them. If they do, then they are short, regional, mostly bloodless and uninteresting. All the major wars in history are simply opportunities for the people who run the world to move their pieces around, in other words, make sudden and swift changes to how their country is run or how big it is. In terms of the unwashed, they are moments of choice between the parched grass on one's own lawn and that on the other side, which nearly always looks greener. The winners win overwhelmingly and the losers lose likewise.
The reason why the above view of war is not prevalent is precisely because of the previously stated fact - the winners win so overwhelmingly that it's no longer a matter of anyone *daring* to contradict their account of events but of pretty much everyone being *convinced* that their account of events is more or less true. This is also the reason why Hitler is the universal bad guy and even questioning the death toll of the holocaust in certain countries is illegal. And as well, why 90% of high school graduates will know about the holocaust but probably fewer than 10% about the Kandyan "wars" conducted by the British in Sri Lanka.
While the unceasing growth of debt and bailouts seem to be a feature of the system and opinions vary between economists if it's even a bad thing ultimately. As for the absurdity of modern day politics, that's a matter or perspective. And I would suggest the past always looks saner to us than the present; there are reasons (might go into that later) why this can appear to our mind, so there's that.
At this point the debt *is* the system, at least the one recognised by the people who run it. The real system will continue operating after the fake one collapses, but for the latter to collapse there has to be war, because it would require the removal from power of the people who recognise the legitimacy of the fake system. So it will be a war of legitimacy except involving currencies and central banks instead of bloodlines - the original dollar as Plantagenet, the modern fiat dollar as Lancaster and the renminbi, ruble, rupee etc. as the various pretenders.