Has the world ever been as fucked in our lifetimes do you reckon, or is a lot of what's going on skewed out of proportion by 24 hours news?
Obviously I remember multiple 'small' wars in the 80s with Reagan seemingly bent on invading everyone. The bombing of Libya (retro) and names like Grenada and Panama being bandied around, then you had the first Gulf War I suppose - but it seemed like the world was on side back then.
It seemed like the world was moving in one direction, it felt like as the Cold War wound down that the world would get closer and closer together. The EU was growing as a political entity, the US's power seemed unassailable, and you had this drunken bear in the Kremlin.
Now things seem like they're going the other way. The Scottish looking to ditch the UK, a real appetite in Belgium for a breakup, the Arab spring, Afghanistan and Iraq, the rise of China and the promise of more expensive fuel and energy, underscored by the effective neutralisation of the United States because of its debt problems, and a UN which has never quite recovered from its treatment by George W Bush. And even at home, absolutely no political or social ideas to be seen or heard anywhere.
Is the world a more chaotic place, or is it simple our perception because of (a) the media and (b) because the west was previously top dog, but the rest of the world is now looking for a piece of the action and at least some Nations are seeing their overall living standards improve?