Therumancer said:
Dude... just chill. You've put together so many different ideas that your point is getting lost.
1. There is morality in war, its the just relative. We can usually point to which side wasn't as bad, for example WWII America and Britain weren't the nicest fellows but they didn't run huge deathcamps.
2. In fact, morality IN REALITY is relative. If morality is objective rules, everyone would fail to be moral (hence the Catholic Church) because we necessarily break some rules. Now we come to the big philosophical questions: What is morality? What is the relation between normative rules and morality? If you "should" do something, does that mean it is legitimate to have a law FORCING you to do it?
3. The US was in a "real war" for sure 55 years ago in Korea, and Vietnam was a "real war". If Vietnam wasn't a "real war" (because of guerrilla tactics) for you, than I deny that the Western Front of WWI was a "real war" because it involved a lot of do-nothing attrition. The effects of combatants is the same.
4. Starship Troopers (the book) was meant to promote facsism because the US needed to be STRONG and MIGHTY and MERCILESS to succeed. The movie was great because it inverted that, and showed why fascism is so dangerous. So yes, clearly they show what you said because "Might is Right" is a regular slogan for fascists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#Allegations_of_fascism
5. Samurai are an example of conservative Japanese principles, not morality. Its not that they needed to give up their honour, their term for "honour" was far too strict. This is because it was meant to keep the samurai in line. When the samurai eventually took over anyhow, they unified Japan. The new ruler of Japan, Tokugawa, realized he did not really need them and started converting them to bureaucrats and administrators while cutting their size as a group, until the arrival of the USA and modernization of the Japanese army. So no, the Samurai never lost.
5. Your understanding of China is biased. When you say "China is running a robber economy" it is necessarily the Bad Guy because "robber" has a negative moral connotation. The standard of living has went up and up and up in China, it will just take a while more to reach a Western level. It is far better than most post-colonial countries when it comes to standards of living.
6. Cheap knockoffs and sweatshops are produced in China, but they are created by Western companies because of demand from Western consumers. We are using their weak labour laws for OUR gain. If Western companies chose not to do this, and Western consumers chose quality, than this wouldn't happen. You CANNOT blame China for basic economic principles (cheap is good).
7. China won't be the world leader for a variety of factors. For one, no country with heavy internal unrest can control the world. China sees thousands of demonstrations, terrorists attacks, and revolts yearly. This is because the size of the population, and has been a problem for China since ancient times.
8. The "inevitability" of an East-West war was originally supposed to be The West vs Islam, not the West vs. China. It was brought to light in the book The Clash of Civilizations. Here is what poli sci and history students think of it: Its BS. There is no reason for this to be inevitable, but saying that it is inevitable makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Think of two countries, if they feel like it is inevitable to go to war they WILL go to war. If they thought there was a chance for co-existing, they would not go to war or, if they do, it wasn't inevitable.
9. I agree with you, the Red Cross is seeing its relevance slipping. However, it is not relevance of morality that is slipping, its us caring about them as an organization that is slipping. Non-governmental agencies have to promote themselves, the Red Cross chose to take the PETA route.