dumb question: if Cold War stand off could produce relative stability for decades why...

[yurbud]

couldn't peaceful coexistence with Russia and China with defined spheres of influence lead to an equally or even more peaceful world?

We had an opportunity to do this once the Soviet Union collapsed and both China and Russia abandoned communism. Instead, we tried to make Rusia a Third World nation, and now we are trying to drink their milkshake in the Caspian Sea Basin.

For all of the stupidity and moral squalor of our invasion of Iraq, it probably doesn't risk igniting a world war like Bush's intrusion into Russia's tradition sphere of influence in Georgia and the attempt to deal Russia out of the income from piping Caspian Sea oil.

But if we weren't messing with that, we'd probably be ok with Russia.

Likewise, China seems to have outsmarted us by trying to gain economic assets from other countries with diplomacy and money whereas we just put a gun in people's faces.

Why couldn't we make a deal like the arms ratio deals before World War II? With spy satellites, they would be relatively easy to enforce.

Instead, we are headed down a path toward endless war.

[Taverner]

1. The Military Industrial Complex owns our government

They own the press

They own the country

The last thing they want is an end to war

War is big business - always has been

War is a racket - always has been

Just ask Maj. Gen Smedley Butler

And I'd say ask JFK - but you can't

[yurbud]

2. yeah, but the question has to be asked every once in a while.

[Taverner]

4. I know - and it should be asked every day

Ike warned us and we didn't listen, er well my PARENTS didn't listen

[Uncle Joe]

6. I agree, I also believe Cheney and Bush's master/owners want high oil prices as well.

I believe this is their way of gouging the American People at least one last time by escalating the price of oil using instability as the motivation before renewable alternative energy takes off making the earth's societies less dependent on toxic fossil fuels.

Cheney and Bush along with their master owners know global warming climate change is for real and this is their cynical, Machiavellian strategy to enrich themselves while the dying old system of fossil fuel energy still dominates.

This isn't about the people, world peace or the public good so much as just more insatiable corporate/oligarch greed.

The only silver lining around this cloud being the greedy bastards are literally killing the goose which has laden the golden eggs for them for so long as they make alternative renewable forms of energy more cost effective to develop.

However I imagine they don't care, the people will feel the pain, not them and as the new companies emerge based on green energy, these same greedy fossil fuel corporations after fighting change for so long will use their extortion money gouged in the final years from the people to take over the green companies. I hope for the sake of poetic justice that's not allowed to happen although I feel somewhat less than hopeful.

[The2ndWheel]

3. Do the sphereies get a say in this set up?

Multiple centers of power are bound to clash at some point, since they require growth and expansion in order to survive.

[applegrove]

5. There wasn't stability during the cold war. Proxy countries all over the

world had wars over communism. Look at Africa, Asia & South America. It was awful and the only people who didn't get destroyed in those wars were first worlders.