The Winds of Change?

[Eternal]

I’m not too sure on how to start this thread but here is a summary of international events that have prompted me to write it:

1) Increased and open aggression by China towards Vietnam, Philippines and Japan over disputed territories.
2) China’s increasing trade influence in the Middle East.
3) Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
4) The growing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
5) The West’s response or lack thereof to all of the above.

I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that the West is losing it. We’ve convinced ourselves that Western aggression has been the cause for many of the world’s problems. A position that I’ve generally agreed with myself particularly with regards to the Western world’s tendency to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries. But now I’m not sure and I think this is why:

1) The Arab uprising has been disastrous.
2) China’s embrace of the free market hasn’t resulted in its democratisation. Instead it has become more openly aggressive.
3) The collapse of the USSR has resulted in a Russia that now has no fear of the US let alone the west itself.

It seems that while western countries prefer their leaders to be democratic and fair with how they govern, the rest of the world seems to prefer an iron fist. More disconcerting though is the idea that these events would occur regardless of what the west does. Perhaps I’m just an old white guy who dislikes change but I can’t help shake the feeling that what we are witnessing, and I know I'm not the first person to think this, is the rise of a new world order.

[Stratego]

We're not losing. The West and the rest of the world is coming to terms with radical changes in the way citizens get access to information. The world is becoming more democratic. We'll only lose if we cling on to an outdated idea that democracy = elections.

[The Dharma Bum]

It's nothing a little domestic surveillance, regimentation, and mandatory uniforms won't fix.

[Saz]

[Saz]

[The Comrade]

[Lobster]

It's just complacency and narcissism. Living in sterile little bubbles of safety, focused intensely on the lint in our navels and pretending the rest of the world is a sort of bad nightmare that can't possibly affect us. That's what too much prosperity does on a collective level.

[Eternal]

[The Dharma Bum]

[John Galt]

Apache, Comanche, Chinook, Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa are racist military vehicle names and a greater injustice than the redskins (which referred to the lenape who painted their faces red...... not all injuns since they don't have red skin: it's not even racist if you actually look into the name, you f**k morons)

saz is right, pc will be the death of us http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

its like the only thing left of them. we name half the shit in this country after them, after their names for places. we then throw in some greek or latin and whallllllaaa... minneapolis. yeah they got their reservations, sitting around elongating vowels and getting drunk, but all glory of thier cultures is from americans using it in our own. it's a melting pot and we have decided that our military might will use a lot of names of tribes long ago conquered. how is it anything but honorable