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> not bring us 60 years of the most peaceful days in modern history? This is a very strange historic rewriting that's popped up everywhere in the last weeks. D

> not bring us 60 years of the most peaceful days in modern history? This is a very strange historic rewriting that's popped up everywhere in the last weeks. Did the Cold War not exist? There have been wars, genocides, coups, and regime changes practically continuously, and international media has consistently reported on them. Western media just didn't highlight them because: {they didn't involve major US security interests / involved "non-white" countries that "we wouldn't expect to be peaceful anyway"}. Ukraine is a local conflict, just like Syria was. It involved proxy wars with the same major players. But it "feels" more significant, because now it's on "our" border. It all seems so artificial. This conflict isn't a "turning point" in history, it isn't "war returning after 70 years of peace". It's a local conflict of which there have been dozens in recent decades. World War 3 will happen much later, and won't involve these countries[0]. There is no principled or logical reason for people to care about Ukraine and not Yemen, Ethiopia, and Myanmar, expect for people caring about what the TV tells them to care about. [0] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/george-friedman-on-world-war-iii-776748/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/george-friedman-on-wo...

cco 5y ago
It's not a recent concept, Pax Americana has been talked about for a long time. The Cold War happened, but it's exactly that incredible achievement of peace during the latter half of the 20th century is astounding given the few hundred years that preceded it.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
“ This is a very strange historic rewriting that's popped up everywhere in the last weeks. Did the Cold War not exist?” It’s simply pointing to the per-world-capita death rate due to war after ww2 where it dropped precipitously.
- concinds 5y ago
  War casualties follow power laws, not normal distributions. It's a nonsensical "analysis".
  - mensetmanusman 5y ago
    It doesn’t matter what law they follow, one just needs to tabulate them in a histogram…
simonh 5y ago
It became more regional. Conflict around most of the world continued, but at a steadily reducing rate, and the lack of major conflicts in the developed world meant that from the 1940s global deaths in conflicts never peaked as high as they had previously. These are the stats per population: https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-years https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-yea... Conflict deaths really fall off a Cliff after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So you're right the cold war was only cold in certain regions, but peace in 'the west' did make a difference.

cco 5y ago

It's not a recent concept, Pax Americana has been talked about for a long time. The Cold War happened, but it's exactly that incredible achievement of peace during the latter half of the 20th century is astounding given the few hundred years that preceded it.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

“ This is a very strange historic rewriting that's popped up everywhere in the last weeks. Did the Cold War not exist?” It’s simply pointing to the per-world-capita death rate due to war after ww2 where it dropped precipitously.

concinds 5y ago
War casualties follow power laws, not normal distributions. It's a nonsensical "analysis".
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  It doesn’t matter what law they follow, one just needs to tabulate them in a histogram…

simonh 5y ago

It became more regional. Conflict around most of the world continued, but at a steadily reducing rate, and the lack of major conflicts in the developed world meant that from the 1940s global deaths in conflicts never peaked as high as they had previously. These are the stats per population: https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-years https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-yea... Conflict deaths really fall off a Cliff after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So you're right the cold war was only cold in certain regions, but peace in 'the west' did make a difference.