From: ldo@nz.invalid   
      
   On Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:02:11 -0500 (EST), Scott Dorsey wrote:   
   >   
   > On Thu, 15 Jan 2026 01:35:43 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   >   
   >> Reading a book on the early history of Mesopotamia just made me sad.   
   >> The first city-states in the world, the beginnings of civilization,   
   >> and they spent centuries warring against each other.   
   >>   
   > Sadly, this is the story of so many places.  China is one of the most   
   > fascinating.   
      
   China at least was able to achieve centuries-long episodes of   
   largely-peaceful conditions at a time -- most of the strife came from   
   foreign invasions. To the point where they automatically assumed that   
   foreigners must be “barbarians”.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)