107 years ago*, the guns fell silent on the Western Front, marking a temporary and partial end to the Great War which began in 1914, and has continued, in one form or another, ever since. I once hoped that I would live to see a peaceful world, but that hope has faded away.
- fixed my arithmetic error, noted by several readers – I seem to be getting worse at this. Also, the date is 11/11 in Australia, where I’m writing.
John Quiggin 
Agreed. I also hoped I would live to see a properly democratic and somewhat socialist world or even just this for Australia. These hopes too have faded away.
I have more to say about the existential threats now facing humanity. I could have written updates already on some of these but with few other people posting, and rarely at that, I start to look like I am flooding the blog.
War is defined as an armed conflict but is it less of a crime than the political upheavals and economic policies that cause famine? I believe that countries that came through a prolonged revolution, like Russia and China, are still suffering from trauma and need to be handled with care.
Chicken or egg? 9/11 set off Iraq War 2.0 with costs to the US of between 3$T and 6$T and which contributed to the 2008 global economic crisis and to the creation of the Tea Party, from which came MAGA and Trump.