Dear Foxy,

«please tell us where Japan is placed?»

In the pacific ocean, unless you recently placed it elsewhere.

Yuyutsu,

The reference to Japan was not about its geographical
location.

Western used to be European & American however, since WW2 many non Caucasians have adopted the Western mentality of grabbing more than is needed with open arms & the gusto to go with it. The situation now is that more non-caucasians are Westerners than Caucasians because "Western" is nothing more or less than a mentality !

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Dear diver dan,

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I must say you paint a rather pessimistic picture of the future development of the current political scene.

But as I’m sure you are aware, the so-called “Fall of the Roman Empire” is a matter of conjecture among scholars.

On that score, I am personally inclined to agree with Edward Gibbon who wrote in his magnum opus, “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (1782) :

« The rise of a city, which swelled into an empire, may deserve, as a singular prodigy, the reflection of a philosophic mind. But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigor of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians. »

[Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part VI. General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West.]

That said, your fears may be well-founded, diver dan – but as I am an inveterate optimist I tend to see a silver lining under every dark cloud. This somehow seems appropriate :

http://poetryhood.weebly.com/uploads/4/9/9/7/49978537/perform_it_poem.pdf

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Dear Banjo,

Thank You for your optimism.

Melinda Gates once said:

"Optimism isn't a belief that things will automatically
get better, it's a conviction that WE can make things
better."

It's a view I also share.

It may be a bumpy road but at least it leads somewhere.

Banjo Paterson,
Yes and, now it's the Westerners !