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  1. #1
    Lesbian Rebel Member Mikeus Caesar's Avatar
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    Default War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    I'm sure if most of you do a little prying into your family history, and that of your friends, you'll find they've all been affected by war and genocide. A distant great-great-uncle died somewhere in the trenches of WW1. My grandparents grew up in the blitz, my grandfather has regaled me with numerous stories about collecting shrapnel from bombs. My best friend is of Ukranian descent, with her grandparents first surviving the mass famine induced by the Soviet Union in the Ukraine, and then being deported to Germany for use as slave labour by Nazis. Another of my good friends is of Vietnamese descent, and is here for obvious reasons.

    Basically, we are the among the first generations in Western countries to have grown up without being directly affected by war and genocide. We have been brought up safe and secure, not having to worry about where the next meal will come from, or when that bomb with your name on it will fall from the sky. But surely, this can't last forever, can it?

    How long will it be before once again we relive the struggles of our grandparents, how long until war once again touches the West? How would recent generations, having been brought up in relative safety, cope with the next big war? Would they be able to cope?

    You look around you in the news, and you see all these things. Oil shortages, food shortages, strife in far off countries. How long will it be before it's not on the news, but in our lives?
    Quote Originally Posted by Ranika
    I'm being assailed by a mental midget of ironically epic proportions. Quick as frozen molasses, this one. Sharp as a melted marble. It's disturbing. I've had conversations with a braying mule with more coherence.


  2. #2
    Poll Smoker Senior Member CountArach's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by Mikeus Caesar View Post
    You look around you in the news, and you see all these things. Oil shortages, food shortages, strife in far off countries. How long will it be before it's not on the news, but in our lives?
    Of course it will come back, but I don't believe it will occur the same way - instead something (likely the oil crisis) will lead to a huge push for resources and as these resources become more and more scarce then nations will begin to compete for them in more and more violent ways. I don't know where that leads us to, but I hope that we can find a way around resource dependency before this happens, rather than during it.

    Of course, one could successfully argue that we are already at that stage and we are not finding a way around it.
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    The trend has been towards less war.

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    Lesbian Rebel Member Mikeus Caesar's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro View Post
    The trend has been towards less war.
    Less war, but it always seems more destructive than the last.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ranika
    I'm being assailed by a mental midget of ironically epic proportions. Quick as frozen molasses, this one. Sharp as a melted marble. It's disturbing. I've had conversations with a braying mule with more coherence.


  5. #5

    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro View Post
    The trend has been towards less war.
    What timeframe are you using? Pax Romana lasted quite a while...

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    Master of useless knowledge Senior Member Kitten Shooting Champion, Eskiv Champion Ironside's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger View Post
    What timeframe are you using? Pax Romana lasted quite a while...
    No major conflicts doesn't equal peace.
    We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism?

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    A very, very Senior Member Adrian II's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    I think major strategic wars are highly unlikely because of MAD-issues. Minor wars, wars by proxy (terrorism) and cut-throat economic competition will be the order of the day.
    The bloody trouble is we are only alive when we’re half dead trying to get a paragraph right. - Paul Scott

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    Hǫrðar Member Viking's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger View Post
    What timeframe are you using? Pax Romana lasted quite a while...
    There's something with the attitudes that has changed also. I don't think that England and France are planning to invade each other in the near future.
    Last edited by Viking; 07-20-2008 at 13:13.
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    Senior Member Senior Member naut's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    The threat that Nuclear weapons pose really rules out direct conflict. As Adrian II said, "Minor wars, wars by proxy (terrorism) and cut-throat economic competition" are much more prevalent, and far more likely.
    Last edited by naut; 07-20-2008 at 14:03.
    #Hillary4prism

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    Part-Time Polemic Senior Member ICantSpellDawg's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    I firmly believe that we will be at war with China within the next 30 years. It will probably be a horrible war on all shores. By that time I hope that the U.S. and E.U. pull their heads out of their butts so that they can work together.

    As China's economy begins to eclipse that of the U.S. the western "Freedom" dynamic will be eclipsed as well. We had all hoped for free markets to equal free people, but China has turned the tables on that theory a bit. We should have severed the head of that dragon while we had the chance.

    Terrorism is a sideshow.
    We'll see what happens, but don't take your eyes off of China for a second.
    Last edited by ICantSpellDawg; 07-20-2008 at 14:08.
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    Sovereign Oppressor Member TIE Fighter Shooter Champion, Turkey Shoot Champion, Juggler Champion Kralizec's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by Adrian II
    I think major strategic wars are highly unlikely because of MAD-issues. Minor wars, wars by proxy (terrorism) and cut-throat economic competition will be the order of the day.
    Personally I'm not sure that the concept of MAD as a deterrent factor is going to last forever. A lot of the sabre rattling that's happening around the easter European missile shield is just for the sake of sabre rattling, but it's possible that multiple parties start weilding missile shields in the future that offer a somewhat reliable protection even against agile missiles designed to evade such things. Some people think that the current global economy with its intertwined interests serve as a safeguard against conflicts, but they said the same about the international banking system before WW1.

  12. #12
    Senior Member Senior Member naut's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by TuffStuffMcGruff View Post
    I firmly believe that we will be at war with China within the next 30 years. It will probably be a horrible war on all shores. By that time I hope that the U.S. and E.U. pull their heads out of their butts so that they can work together.

    As China's economy begins to eclipse that of the U.S. the western "Freedom" dynamic will be eclipsed as well. We had all hoped for free markets to equal free people, but China has turned the tables on that theory a bit. We should have severed the head of that dragon while we had the chance.

    Terrorism is a sideshow.
    We'll see what happens, but don't take your eyes off of China for a second.
    Reminds me something a friend of my dad told me. He grew up in Australia during the Cold War and his history teacher would tell them in class that war was coming with China and every Australian would have to kill 50,000 each to win the war.
    #Hillary4prism

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    And hold that everything depends upon having the “right” religion.
    But when one really knows, one has no need of religion. - Mahavyuha Sutra

    Freedom necessarily involves risk. - Alan Watts

  13. #13
    A very, very Senior Member Adrian II's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by TuffStuffMcGruff View Post
    I firmly believe that we will be at war with China within the next 30 years.
    Nah, you cannot afford it. Nor can the Chinese. Asia is going to continue financing and sustaining the West for decades to come. China will play a major role in that and Taiwan will no longer be a bone of contention but a diplomatic and financial bridge between the U.S. and China.
    The bloody trouble is we are only alive when we’re half dead trying to get a paragraph right. - Paul Scott

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    Member Member KrooK's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quite intelligent doctor of history of law told me once that there is nothing that man can't invent to hurt other man.
    John Thomas Gross - liar who want put on Poles responsibility for impassivity of American Jews during holocaust

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    Oni Member Samurai Waki's Avatar
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    Default Re: War, genocide, and all those other human niceties

    Quote Originally Posted by KrooK View Post
    Quite intelligent doctor of history of law told me once that there is nothing that man can't invent to hurt other man.
    It just so happens that this generation's poison happens to be of economic and social crisis rather than the direct bare knuckled brawls of the previous.

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