Dangerous mix of world conflicts create recipe for a rough century

I remember the good old days, 20 years ago. The Cold War was over, the “peace dividend” was spent, the tech bubble was inflating, and we partied like it was 1999. The future was going to be a bright, peaceful, high-tech wonder as liberal, democratic bourgeois values won out around the world.

I miss that future, since what we got was something else entirely. And now, 20 years later, instead of partying like it’s 1999, we’re looking at a tray of “Cocktails from Hell,” to use the title of Austin Bay’s new book on the dangerous state of the world. Personally, I’d rather have a Harvey Wallbanger.

But since no one will take away these cups that are set before us, here are some of the things that Austin Bay is worried about, and that the rest of us should pay attention to.

Korea is one of several “frozen conflicts” since World War II. The war was stopped, but not actually ended, by an armistice in 1953. For more than half a century, North Korean forces faced South Korean and allied troops, including a lot of Americans, across the “demilitarized zone,” or DMZ. Every once in a while, North Korea would sink a ship, or shoot down a plane, as part of an effort to assert its importance.