Never said that, said colonialism is the main culprit.
You don't understand China at all. They are businesspeople #1 and are currently investing heavily in infrastructure for their silk road project, mending relations between Persians and Arabs.
What have the US built lately? Besides discord and failed armies aka Afghanistan and Ukraine (soon to be IDF)?

We will probably still be fighting wars a thousand years from now, if there is still anyone standing. And what will they be fighting over? Fresh water.

You are right, democracy is our best hope, but that hope is tenuous. Democracy has some weaknesses that make it susceptible to subversion by criminals who would use the cover of free speech and due process to press a totally self-centered agenda instead of tending to the public good. Once in power they would. fabricate an emergency, suspend the Constitution, declare martial law, clamp down on dissent, pillage the Treasury, and weaponize the Justice Department and intelligence agencies to persecute political rivals. We have seen it all happen before in other countries, and it could happen here. The only thing standing in the way of the would be dictators is honest, loyal, and courageous career government employees and some private backers, and a well informed, well educated, engaged electorate.

@Flyingsaucesir & the military remains in their bunkers. Stay true generals.

Blame Zelenskyy and backers, they refuse to negotiate like fascist Zionists.

@puff Blame Zelensky? Why? He did not invade Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine. Blame Putin!

@Flyingsaucesir Zelenskyy won an election overwhelmingly in 2019. Why was he so popular? His election promise was to smooth things with Russia and end the civil war raging since 2014. As soon as he got in, he increased shelling the Donbass. Ukraine is being used by NATO, they do not care about Ukranian lives or the peace negotiated in Turkey would have been accepted in the early stages of the war. Zelenskyy has since legislated it is against Ukranian law to negotiate with Putin. That is basically saying "all or nothing". And as Zelenskyy also refuses to hold elections whilst widening the conscription into military service you have to conclude he has become somewhat dictatorial.
Russia has lost a lot of people fighting in Ukraine and want it to stop. But Zelenskyy's/ NATO's "all or nothing" attitude means if the state of Ukraine is erased aka genocide, it will not be because of a lack of willingness from the Russians to stop the fighting.
Russia starting to make major gains. I can see Ukraine capitulating in weeks not months. That big NATO exercise will make things interesting and I suspect it was timed to coincide with the fall of the Zelenskyy regime. If Russian, I would not trust NATO's "peaceful exercise" one iota.

@puff Putin is bent on erasing Ukraine as a sovereign nation. What's to negotiate? The threat to Ukraine is existential. But Russia could end the bloodshed tomorrow. All they have to do is quit Ukraine. It's that simple.

NATO is not telling Ukrainians what to do. The Ukrainians are bravely facing down an aggressive bully who has far greater numbers and material resources. They're fighting because their only other choice is to lose everything. They deserve our help. And we are smart to give it. Until you bloody the bully's nose, he will just keep on taking, taking, taking.

Putin is counting on the West getting tired, fed up, and losing its resolve. He knows we have the right to choose. But in Russia he is a dictator; he puts down dissent in his own ranks with an iron fist. You cannot even display an 8½ x 11 blank sheet of paper in Russia without burly brutes hustling you off to prison. He has his political rivals killed, or jailed, or killed in jail. And make no mistake: these are signs of weakness, not of strength. Putin is fundamentally weak. He cannot compete on a level playing field.

And you would prostrate yourself before such a man? I feel sorry for you.

@Flyingsaucesir They are fighting because they fear being shot and have been forcibly conscripted. The last months of a do or die war like this are always the bloodiest.

You are aware of the peace devised in Turkey, initialed and all by the Ukranian and Russian sides? In it, Russia retained Crimea which went through the legal process to succeed to Russia in 2014. The Donbass and other "new Russia" areas were to hold referendums to decide which way to go. Security guarantees were given with one big one.
No NATO.
This was unacceptable so Boris Johnson flew over and scuttled the deal on behalf of the US and NATO, the "West". "As long as it takes, as much as you need".

So if that deal was taken, Ukraine would be largely intact with Crimea gone in 2014 anyway. They could have retained the rest. There would be 500,000 Ukrainians still alive. The US and Europe would have billions in their pocket. It's a senseless war, NATO will not expand to Ukraine and have sacrificed Ukraine in the name of attempted expansion.

@puff Again you fundamentally misunderstand the situation. No one in the West is telling Ukraine what to do. Boris Johnson never had that much pull. And Russia is not entitled to have Crimea any more than any other part of Ukraine (or Europe, for that matter).

@Flyingsaucesir You know what peace negotiations are? You concede some for peace. There was no calls for regime change nor demilitarisation by Russia. They dropped the "de-Nazification" plans. Just no NATO assets sited in Ukraine was the non-negotiable part. You really think Ukraine rejected peace because joining NATO was always a wet dream? Or do you think rather than save his country and people, he chose to fight on because of outside forces and promises?
Regardless, Ukraine rejected the best offer they were going to get, after they agreed to it, then it ended. A great shame..

@puff Ukraine decided to fight on because they could read the handwriting on the wall: Putin was going to gobble up the whole country, no matter what. You think Putin's word is worth a fart in a windstorm? Ha! You are one deluded mother's son. Before the full scale invasion in February 2022, what did putin say? He said he had no intention of invading Ukraine. Just like in 2014, when he sent his "little green men" into the Donbas. "Who, me? What? I know nothing..." All pure bullshit. There is no negotiating with a pit viper.

@Flyingsaucesir Who were not exactly honest devising the Minsk accord? Admitted by Merkel herself.

@puff You'll have to take that up with her. (BTW, there is no one in Europe who knows Putin better than she does.)

@Flyingsaucesir Which is why it was such a personal betrayal for Putin. I also thought their relationship was strong (I also found this an ironic friendship. her former East German and him in the KGB based in East Germany. You'd think they wouldn't get on)
[news.yahoo.com]

@puff Her Russian is better than his German. They studied each other. They were never friends. They had a cordial professional relationship. She is a pragmatist. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Living in Thailand has helped me understand the situation in Burma/ Myanmar quite well. Rohingyan are not Burmese, they are Bangladeshi. It is their culture, language, religion and genetics. They came to then Burma very recently whilst the poms were in control, part of the "divide and conquer" no doubt. I was in Thailand the first big clashes. The Rohingyan problem was they made no attempt to assimilate into Burmese culture, which is Buddhist. They remained in enclaves. A Burmese girl was gang raped then set alight by some Rohingyan who were also extreme Islamists. The village went ape shit and burnt them out, that was the start of the current crisis. Western media never reported the rape, only the "ethnic cleansing" that occurred after. Animosity had always been there though and I fully support the Burmese and Myanmar in this. Big civil war there atm and the military are now recruiting Rohingyan, people they attacked not too long ago. Tells me the military dictatorship there is getting desperate and about to fall