# What is the main threat to global peace?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 6, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770 "2013-07-06T03:20:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Goosie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goosie)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/21 "2013-07-06T19:36:42Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#):
>
> Human nature.
>
> And Iceland. I’ve been keeping my eye on those guys ever since the [Cod Wars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars).
Sounds like trouble! Somebody call a carp!!
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/22 "2013-07-06T21:38:52Z")
> [@Not\_From\_Here](#):
>
> The status quo is america as the only superpower and things are so peaceful right now right?😛
Yes, things are pretty peaceful right now. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know history. Wars are common and usually much worse than anything going on right now.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/23 "2013-07-06T21:42:27Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> I find it unlikely that China seeks open war with anyone. Although they are certainly building naval and air power capabilities commiserate with a global power, the actual costs and impact on international trade of open warfare are doubtless apparent to them. However, supporting and supplying proxy wars in Africa and elsewhere may give them profit and access to natural resources that they would not otherwise have, and any interactions between China and other nations should be viewed in this context.
Look up the phrase “China Dream”.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/24 "2013-07-06T22:08:13Z")
Iceland, because of _The Mighty Ducks 2_.
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### Author:  [@Not\_From\_Here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_From_Here)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/25 "2013-07-06T22:26:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Yes, things are pretty peaceful right now. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know history. Wars are common and usually much worse than anything going on right now.
Your argument was that China is looking to change the status quo and that cause wars, and i am pointing out that there are already a lot of wars happening right now caused by the U.S gov.I don’t see why China would be any worse that the U.S.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/26 "2013-07-06T22:28:56Z")
If it isn’t Iceland, you know it’s gonna be Paraguay. Or maybe China.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/27 "2013-07-06T22:30:56Z")
Questions at Miss America [del]pageants[/del] scholarship programs.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/28 "2013-07-06T23:11:32Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> i place the blame squarely on people.
This, definitely.
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### Author:  [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/29 "2013-07-06T23:18:59Z")
Here’s another vote for Greed, which I don’t believe is a fundamental component of Human Nature.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/30 "2013-07-06T23:37:56Z")
I went with radical Islam, on the basis of being current, reasonably identifiable, and bearing a stated purpose of war against those who are not radical Islamists. That’s within a framework of an oversimplification of the state of the world.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/31 "2013-07-06T23:42:42Z")
our innate ability to get really pissed off at people who aren’t like us, even over something really trivial.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/32 "2013-07-07T01:19:31Z")
> [@Not\_From\_Here](#):
>
> Your argument was that China is looking to change the status quo and that cause wars, and i am pointing out that there are already a lot of wars happening right now caused by the U.S gov.I don’t see why China would be any worse that the U.S.
My first point is that there aren’t really a lot of wars going on. The biggest war going on right now is the Syrian Civil War (which has nothing to do with the United States). And by historical standards that’s a minor war.
My second point is that it’s not so much an issue of whether America or China is the world’s superpower. But the transition will be violent - and I say this because it always has been. The rising power fights to get in first place and the declining power fights to hold on to first place.
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### Author:  [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/33 "2013-07-07T01:22:39Z")
Extremism, in all it’s forms and directions.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/34 "2013-07-07T01:26:26Z")
Public polls.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/35 "2013-07-07T03:12:25Z")
> [@B.Serum](#):
>
> Extremism, in all it’s forms and directions.
All extremists must be eliminated.
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### Author:  [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/36 "2013-07-07T03:38:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> My first point is that there aren’t really a lot of wars going on. The biggest war going on right now is the Syrian Civil War…
Really? Not a lot of wars? That would be welcome news to tens of millions of people if true.
In fact there are at least nine serious armed conflicts around the globe right now and one of the worst is right next door - in Mexico. Since 2006 an estimated 90,000 people have been killed in the drug wars. That’s the same number as in the Syria insurrection.
Furthermore there are 32 smaller conflicts (less than 1000 deaths/year) any one of which could escalate if a supporting state became involved.
> **[List of ongoing armed conflicts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_military_conflicts#1.2C000.2B_deaths_per_year)**
>
> The following is a list of ongoing armed conflicts that are taking place around the world.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/37 "2013-07-07T05:15:16Z")
> [@Ken001](#):
>
> Really? Not a lot of wars? That would be welcome news to tens of millions of people if true.
Well, tell them the good news then.
I’m aware people are being killed in the world. But that doesn’t mean the world is torn apart by wars. Ninety thousand people have been killed in Mexico in the last seven years? That’s a tragedy. But ninety thousand people have been killed in the United States in the last seven years. Are we having a civil war?
The reality is Mexico and the United States have a serious crime problem. But they’re not having wars in the middle of their country.
The fact that people can start talking about war when a dozen people are killed is proof of how peaceful the world generally is.
Here’s some [statistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll) you might want to look at. It’s a list of the deadliest wars in human history. Read the list. How many of the wars in the top ten on that list have happened in the last twenty-five years? How many wars in the top twenty-five on that list?
What you’ll notice is that the number of recent wars in the top ten is zero. And the number of wars in the top twenty-five is also zero.
If you look at that list of the deadliest wars in history, you’ll notice how few of them have happened in the last twenty-five years. And this is despite the fact that there are more people in the world today than have ever lived in history. And of the recent wars that have occurred three quarters of them happened in Africa and had nothing to do with the United States.
The reality is that we may not have eliminated war altogether but in the last twenty-five years - the era when the United States has been the world’s sole superpower - we’ve seen a historical low in warfare.
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### Author:  [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/38 "2013-07-07T10:11:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> The reality is Mexico and the United States have a serious crime problem. But they’re not having wars in the middle of their country.
>
> Here’s some [statistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll) you might want to look at. It’s a list of the deadliest wars in human history. Read the list. How many of the wars in the top ten on that list have happened in the last twenty-five years? How many wars in the top twenty-five on that list?
>
> What you’ll notice is that the number of recent wars in the top ten is zero. And the number of wars in the top twenty-five is also zero.
>
> If you look at that list of the deadliest wars in history, you’ll notice how few of them have happened in the last twenty-five years. And this is despite the fact that there are more people in the world today than have ever lived in history.
Yes I agree. We could argue the definition of war but that would become semantics. Largely the world is a peaceful place but my point is people are still dying in armed conflicts and peace is not assured. If you lived in Nogales and had to regularly travel into Mexico, you’d be wise to worry. It may not be war but dead is dead.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/39 "2013-07-07T10:23:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Here’s some [statistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll) you might want to look at. It’s a list of the deadliest wars in human history.
> … the number of wars [from the last 25 years] in the top twenty-five is also zero.
On that Wiki page, when a range of deaths is given, the _smaller_ number is used to sort. The Second Congo War which started 1998 would be in the top 25 if the average death estimate were used.
That list shows 16 “wars” with 100,000+ deaths which began 1990 or later. (This total does not include wars beginning in the 1980’s which lasted into the 90’s.)
Just now I did some “number-crunching” on that list and concluded that the death rate from wars has been _roughly_ constant for centuries, if World Wars I and II are excluded, even up to the present.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2013, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-main-threat-to-global-peace/662770/40 "2013-07-07T12:38:14Z")
I think the biggest threat to peace is conflict.
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