In studying history, I am continually struck by how many of today's problems can be traced directly back to the Empire, caused by a tiny nations over-reaching ego, fed by the jingoistic political rhetoric of its 'leaders', for the financial benefit of a few industrialists and capitalists. India/Pakistan, most of Africa, the Middle East, Ireland, etc.

Why I bring this up is not to inflame fellow 'Catters from across the pond, or throw bricks, but to remark that the US is, in recent years, following the same course, and we will all suffer for it later, when the 'lingua franca' of business and culture is not American English, but maybe Chinese, or Indonesian or sonething else, and the center of Government is no longer NYC or Washington.

Did anyone in Britain believe that London and Westminster would someday be relegated to second class status? As Rome passed, so will the 'good' old USA. The sooner the better, I feel. Our foreign policy is driven by oil, not by the dissemination of Democratic ideals. The alliances formed by the identification of "America's" best interests short-term are at best short-sighted. We have been on the wrong side in almost every conflict I can think of, supporting right-wing death-squad dictators, who, it is thought, create a stable environment for 'business' over the rights and freedoms of the impoverished people.

Don't know that there is an answer, just as the thread on peace in the Middle East seeks solutions without an answer, but there is a root cause of the current situation in the Middle East, that in part goes back to Britain's Imperialism, the First World War and all its Nationalistic folly & Imperialist desires, American so-called 'non-interventionist' policies, and now the Corporatocracy that rules the US today. Can there ever be Peace without justice? IMHO NO. If not then unchecked Capitalism, which is by nature & design unjust, must be replaced with a system of distribution of resources and goods and services that is. Yes I am a dreamer. But, 20th c. American Capitalism was not created by God on the day after he rested, it is just another system invented by men, and can be replaced. After the Berlin wall and Soviet Communism fell, Charles Krauthammer in the Washington press actually said that humans need never have to think again about these things. That American Capitalist Democracy had demonstrated that it is the finest system ever devised, proven by Communisms failure. Krauthammer is an ass. Read him for laughs, and to be able to respond to his rhetoric clearly. Study history, and don't give up thinking of a better way.

The most recent study of the State of Ohio, USA, where I am from, says that between the 1970s and 1990s inflation- adjusted income for the poorest fifth of the population fell even further by 5.4 percent or $830. while for the richest fifth it grew 43.1 percent or $43,020. Fair? Everyone has an equal chance? market forces? should anyone go to sleep hungry tonight? children included?