frankv:

 

It's not new to the twentieth century... what I described is how the powerful (kings and dukes and chieftains way back, nowadays politicians) have operated for millennia. The fact that they keep doing it suggests that either you're right and they haven't learned anything, or you're wrong and they have learned that threatening warfare, and often actual warfare, does in fact work. I favour the latter position. Do we not celebrate the great military victories that our side has won? That suggests that we believe that the outcome is considered well worth the cost.

 

NB that talking with/to the other person is in fact usual, so you can get as much from them as possible without having to use up your human and economic resources. It's only when they refuse to hand over any more that you resort to taking it by force (or postpone). The Crimea annexation, for example, followed a decade or more of Russian attempts to regain it from Ukraine by diplomacy and subversion. We saw the same thing in New Zealand, California, Texas, the Falklands, and see it in the South China Sea. One wonders what the outcome of Alaska would have been if the Russians had refused to sell.

 

 

 

Along the lines of the adage wrongfully attributed to Albert Einstein "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" Just because we have done stupid things for hundreds/thousands of years does not make it less insane.

Should we in the twenty first century try giving John Lennon's wise words a try "All we are saying is give peace a chance" 

I don't celebrate great military victories I remember the sacrifice and the tragic loss of lives as a result of the insanity of leaders. My family does not go to ANZAC services to praise victories we go so that we will remember those who served and those that never grew old.