MINNEAPOLIS — The late German statesman Konrad Adenauer once said: “History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.”
Adenauer was speaking in the post-World War II period, but with Cold War rhetoric being bandied about again today across the media airwaves with “Russian Aggression” as the main talking point by pundits– it almost feels inevitable that we’re careening toward World War III.
But why do politicians continue to refuse to learn from the past mistakes of empires? Why do they continue to read past atrocities as a how-to guide for running the world today?
The Plymouth Institute for Peace Research reported last year that “the and (NATO) have been encircling Russia and China with military bases and missile defense systems,” aiming to gain “control over natural resources to keep competing markets dependent on the U.S. as well as in line with its interests.”
Thus, after years of economic and political maneuvering, the long-simmering tensions in U.S.-China relations may be finally coming to a boil. The Pentagon is openly calling for a military buildup off of China’s shores, and both sides accuse one another of engaging in cyberwarfare.