Chris Lewis I don't think you do understand why wars happen.The Bankers backed bothsides of WW1 and WW2.They made money loaning $ billions to all sides and make even more creating money from nothing to finance the reconstruction.Thwe debt they put germany into after WW1 enabled the rise of Hitler.Many in the British/USA elite wanted to emulate Hitler's philosophy, but Hitler got too ambitious.Both world wars were engineered and so have most of the others because of the power/profit motive.

Prescott Bush( Grandfather of George Jr) was on the Board of the Union bank,it was shut down because it was caught laundering NAZI money.Senator John Kerry has $60 million invested in arms manufacturing.

There is big money to be made in war.Oil can be stolen rather paid for as in Iraq.This is why they want to invade Iran.We only paid attention to East Timor when they found oil there.That oil did not make prices cheaper here.Only the big oil companies make the real profits.

There have been many references made by prominent US Presidents about the dangers of the Military,Industrial Complex which we continue to ignore.

Arjay, yours is a great comment. Most people can't see that the America of today is not the America of 1945 when, after waiting for almost two years, it entered WW2.

Since then, it has become a nation that is like Germany. It invades and occupies, builds military bases, then steals scarce resources. And Australia is its partner!

Australians should hold their heads in shame to be part of American imperialism. It's a shame that Chris can't see this.

Arjay & David, great to see some people can see beyond what the press & television want you to believe, it is always a one sided story with them to keep the masses quiet, America followed by Australia have a lot to answer for regarding world problems,especially where oil is located , causing invasion of countries the best way to control it,when will the masses wake up to the propaganda we are told which is lies and more lies

Arjay
"I don't think you do understand why wars happen.The Bankers backed bothsides of WW1 and WW2.They made money loaning $ billions to all sides and make even more creating money from nothing to finance the reconstruction.Thwe debt they put germany into after WW1 enabled the rise of Hitler.Many in the British/USA elite wanted to emulate Hitler's philosophy, but Hitler got too ambitious.Both world wars were engineered and so have most of the others because of the power/profit motive."

So what's the reasoning behind the other 50,000 or so wars throughout history?

I am afraid your "humanitarian" or utopian "one world government" fantasies cloud your judgement.
You need to think further back in the causal chain rather than just blaming money and bankers.
The reality is that human beings form tribes or groups based on shared ideals. When you have a number of different groups with their own ideas of what they consider to be right and wrong, then a certain amount of friction between these groups will always be present. In the worst cases you have war, but even in the best of cases there always is resistance to ideas that is believed not to be in the best interest of the group.
To cease conflict you would have to stop people from thinking, because thinking leads to judgement, judgement leads to division, division leads to conflict.
I am not saying conflict can't be minimized, but it can never be eradicated. Even yourself, Arjay, if you were honest enough to admit it, that you too have set yourself up in conflict to the capitalists, bankers, America etc.

Aristocrat, you say: 'To cease conflict you would have to stop people from thinking, because thinking leads to judgement, judgement leads to division, division leads to conflict.'

It's a neat little explanation but it leaves out the use of war to make profit, to gain scarce resources, to gain strategic advantage, to dominate and control other nations or indeed the whole world (as is America's intention).

No thinking person would arrive at the conclusion that war achieves anything besides creating death, destruction and hatred. History proves that conclusively.

David G.
"It's a neat little explanation but it leaves out the use of war to make profit, to gain scarce resources, to gain strategic advantage, to dominate and control other nations or indeed the whole world (as is America's intention)."

So your solution to end all wars is ...?
While it might be a nice warm fuzzy feeling that all conflict will end if we could just do way with profit, gaining resources, and attempting to control other nations. You might live the fantasy that if we could just do away with the USA then wars will cease, unfortunately you leave out the very thing that causes all this ... the human being. Regardless of nationality, human beings desire, they judge, they want possessions, they form groups, they fight for sex, they dislike things and people etc. This is old news. The Buddhists figured this out thousands of years ago, as did Heraclitus. However, it seems even in a post-Enlightenment stage some still live the utopian fantasy of perpetual peace.
As I said, conflict can be managed and limited, but never eradicated.