so what do you want us to do about all these wars... perform a police action? i mean cmon... half the wars in africa are based on old tribal feuds, the other half religion. do you want to get in the middle of that?

umm.. why isn't the US in red. I mean, they are currently at war, and have been at war for most of the time since WWII...

why dont YOU think about that.

i don't think you can compare WW1 to any of the other ongoing wars, hence the 5% figure doesn't have as much weight imho.

Although there is pretty much very little we can do about these wars, it still hits home a little when you think about how many wars are ongoing, right now.

Trevor: the war isn't being fought on US territory.. if the US had to be red for being at war in iraq and afghanistan it would apply to a ton of other countries.

what conflicts are currently undergoing in Mexico and why? (i noticed some states there are labeled as red

99,9% of those wars are for one thing and one thing only: Money (resources, guns, etc.). 95% of those are being fought because large corporations and governments who they control (and US is no exception) wants more money. They start these wars by financing terrorist and fundamentalist groups, igniting violence and starting wars. Western world is ripping these people off and slaughtering them, because of us. Because our laziness, our ignorance, our stupidity. We are to blame, because we let corporations to run our governments, to run our military and to make business of other peoples misery.

Want to know more?: http://www.chomsky.info/

Jones: Forget about WWI. The fact that so many civilians are killed, injured, and displaced in modern warfare is depressing enough without comparison.

Where'd the 5% for WWI come from? Multiple sources I've seen have it much closer to 50% civilian. Wikipedia puts it about 45% civilian in WWI and nearly 60% in WWII.

Aa ron: The stat comes from here: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/

Hi,

This is just to inform you that your post was selected as an "essential link" by 19min.com.

Kind regards,

19min.com

hey edax instead of sitting behind your computer and telling us all how horrible we are for being lazy go do something about it.

You can't begin to compare the amount of money spent on military with any the US and others by dollar amount. It's called GDP, and we make a hell of a lot more money than China. Our GDP spending is about the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Military_expenditure_percent_of_GDP.PNG

"Trevor: the war isn't being fought on US territory.. if the US had to be red for being at war in iraq and afghanistan it would apply to a ton of other countries." not sure i quite follow this... my point was that its great that someone has a bleeding heart for the civilians of countries in civil wars... but theres really not much we can do without looking like a$$holes going in and interfering in a countries internal conflict

why is Algeria and Saudi arabia at war. i have been in both coutries and there are no wars there. if War on terrorism is considered, then yes they are and the whole world should be red too. we should fight terrorism where countries invade other countries under false info and stay for no good reason (money is not a reason) its an excuse. Peace on earth

There always have been wars and their will always be wars and people will die. Just shows us how little effect we have on the world.

Here are correct numbers for Iraq and WW2 - just for context.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_war_casualties#Iraqi_civilian_casualties

As an American, I agree that the US should be in red. We are fighting an unjustified war in Iraq, which has caused this country to be divided between those who understand and those who seem to think "my country, right or wrong" no matter how much proof there is that the actions of our "leaders" in wrong.

I think if the US did not spend so much on defense, the world would be in even worse condition. The US stabilizes the world. As one post mentioned, tribal warfare, drug wars, and other local conflicts are continuous. Many African countries have rich resources that could bring the countries out of poverty. But egotistical leaders wreak havoc, and socialism prevents progress. Free markets, private property rights, rule of law, and capitalism would enrich these areas, bringing prosperity and peace.

war is a part of life and life goes on. as long as my country is always victorious, that's all i care about. i don't worry about the rest of the world because they don't worry about me or my country.

america spends a shit ton of money on defense, but we also spend a shit ton on aid to other countries. more than any other country combined. so think about that one for awhile.

American: The world is NOT in better condition with the US spending so much on "defense." You seem to think that we're justified acting as the policemen of the world, going wherever we want to go and doing whatever we think is right. Moreover, you seem to think that the US military is some kind of altruistic entity, governed by a higher moral code.

This is complete and utter crap. Iraq is unstable to the extreme, and civilians commonly state that they were better off with Saddam in power. Time for us to take responsibility for totally screwing up their entire society and murdering thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians.

We pour billions of dollars into Israel (both military spending and non-military foreign aid) to fund the persecution of the Palestinians. In fact, each year, 1/3 of all US foreign aid goes to Israel alone, while Palestinians have no access to basic rights like freedom of movement, clean water or medical care.

Our military is far from righteous. Stop being so naive and open your eyes.

Why not use yellow to colour the states that are engaged in war but only on foreign territory?

anyone else wondering why war gravitates toward the equator? I believe it's because it's difficult to operate an AK47 while wearing mittens.