Monday, August 18, 2014

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace asks: Is the world falling apart?

This image was selected as a picture of the we...
This image was selected as a picture of the week on the Malay Wikipedia for the 44th week, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/08/14/is-world-falling-apart/hkuw

The world has always been falling apart.  And yet, amazingly, 70 years after the atom bombs were dropped on Japan, we humans have yet to blow ourselves up or hurtle ourselves into a nuclear winter.  The Cold War ended without a nuclear exchange.  Apartheid ended in South Africa without a bloodbath. Even the Irish seem to have settled down, after centuries of religious strife, terrorism and revenge killings.

On the other hand, Putin seems to want to have Cold War II, the Israelies and Palestinians seem no closer to peace than in 1936, Africa and the Middle East remain total messes, global terrorism is likely to get a dirty bomb one of these days, and the climate for sure is changing (apparently not for the better).

There have never before been so many of us on this poor, groaning planet.  Wealth disparities have never been greater.  And the Ebola outbreak may be a harbinger of a Black Death someday to come.

Is the world falling apart?  Your guess is as good as mine… but I wouldn't rule it out.

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