Artful Dodger: The setting of direction does. I post a text originally german, by an autor who publishes only with his forename. I hope the translation is worth the reading.

Artful Dodger: The fear of not having enough, or what you have being taken away causes many wars. The fear of being wrong can cause wars. As one old gezzer said, not often we fight for the right reasons. Religion, ethics, morality, creed, land, resources, life, freedom, fear, love, greed, etc, etc....

Within them all lurks the ability to become a war. It's all a matter of perception and as often the case.. how good a day someone is having.

Artful Dodger:

> Capitalism doesn't cause wars. People do.

First, what causes capitalism? People do. Wars are fought due to the greed for wealth and power. Everything else is just an excuse. You can quote ideology, but once you see who is making money, the causes of war are obvious. There isn't a single war that was not fought to acquire territory, or natural resources, or subjugate a people. Ideology (or religion) were always just excuses.

Greed and selfishness are the cause of war. Capitalism is a system that glorifies greed and selfishness as "free enterprise" and Adam Smith's "invisible hand". Then capitlism perpetuates war, and the capitalists of the world have little interesting in ending the arms trade and the wars that make them rich.

It is true, war has existed since cavemen could pick up sticks and whack each other on the head. Capitalism has caused many wars too, like all systems preceding it. Contemporary capitalism is guilty not just of creating wars and profitting from them, but also of failing to make any progress to end war. There is a reason why the countries with the biggest weapons manufacturers in the world have refused to sign and ratify treaties to end the small arms trade, the manufacture of land mines, the use of cluster bombs, etc. Those are all "best sellers"!

Übergeek 바둑이: First, what causes capitalism? People do. Wars are fought due to the greed for wealth and power.


Yikes! 34 new posts and this is the first two lines I read???

First, capitalism is not something that is "caused"...

Second, Why wars are fought cannot be so easily generalized

Sometimes wars are fought in defense of something, so you may start one with me because you are greedy for wealth, but my war is in defense of you, I am NOT fighting a war for greed or wealth, merely survival.


(thats all I got right now, since I have many posts to read and respond to)