Originally posted by no1marauder A war of aggression launched by a freely elected government is no less illegitimate than one launched by a non-freely elected government.
"Democratic consensus" is insufficient to settle all international, national or local problems.
Wars are like prisons. Neither is desirable -- I wish we could have no prisons and no wars -- but sometimes people bring the need for imprisonment (or war) upon themselves.
There is nothing illegitimate about either.
Wars could be very much reduced, though, and probably entirely eliminated by seating a democratically elected world government.
Originally posted by Teinosuke There are lot of totalitarian regimes. They'll no doubt all make friends with each other so it will be difficult to isolate them.
Wars occur for plenty of reasons - eg, territorial aggrandisement, religious differences, debates over scarce resources - which are not easily resolvable by democratic consensus.
"The only thing needed for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
Your comment that "the bad guys are too strong" is disappointing to hear. They are not too strong. It is only that we, the Free Peoples, have been too obsessed with our own local affairs to realize what effects fulfilling the birthright of liberty and justice for every human being everywhere in the world would have.
Give people these two things -- it isn't even "teach a man to fish" it is "give him the right to fish" -- and you empower everyone on the planet to pitch in and solve the world's problems.
People who are free and fairly treated, a) can make their own way, and b) have absolutely no time for war.
Originally posted by spruce112358 "The only thing needed for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
Your comment that "the bad guys are too strong" is disappointing to hear. They are not too strong. It is only that we, the Free Peoples, have been too obsessed with our own local affairs to realize what effects fulfilling the birthright of liberty and justice for every human and fairly treated, a) can make their own way, and b) have absolutely no time for war.
Democracy and freedom will likely come to most countries as they become better educated and prosperous. China will likely be a liberal democracy in a couple of decades time because of the pressures from its own people. Military intervention by the "free world" would almost certainly be counterproductive, rallying citizens behind the regime.
Besides, have you any idea how many people would probably be killed in a full-scale war between the West and China?
The "free world" can of course help by supporting dissident movements where necessary, slanting trade and aid agreements so that they reward liberalisation, etc.
Offering the idea that a world government will need two things: Some alliance must have a monopoly on the use of violence, and there are no significant warlike conflicts.
Building on this, A monopoly will mean control over the means of building a war machine, which means integration of the corporate military industrial complex into government (or more like, integration of government into the the CMI complex.
Originally posted by spruce112358 Wars are like prisons. Neither is desirable -- I wish we could have no prisons and no wars -- but sometimes people bring the need for imprisonment (or war) upon themselves.
There is nothing illegitimate about either.
Wars could be very much reduced, though, and probably entirely eliminated by seating a democratically elected world government.
Wars launched merely because you don't like somebody's else form of government are Crimes against Peace. The people who launch them should be in prison (or hanged like Von Ribbentrop was).
I can't imagine where you got the idea that merely having some democratically elected government removes any possibility of war; certainly it can't have come from a history book. The United States election of 1860 led to war because one side did not like the results. That's simply one example; Spain in 1936 would be another. There are many more.
Should the US and Euro comine? The Ameruo?
05 Jan '12 07:19
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