When small countries ruled the world

 There was a time when small little countries could conquer and rule the world. This was made possible by superiority in arms against natives of the world that were not nation states, mostly tribal in nature, and poorly armed, mostly still in the bow and arrow stage against the firepower of European invaders with guns and cannons. Disorganised and poorly equipped tribes were a mismatch to the might of modern military states. When faced with a superior and organised state like China, the little European states ganged up to tear apart an old dragon, relatively weak and far from its glorious days.

Today, some small states still think they could take on big states, threatening big states and wanting to go to war with big states. Not a single European state, not England, France or Germany, could take on Russia singly. They are a shadow of themselves in their glorious days of empires. And we have foolish states like Ukraine, taunting and challenging Russia, massacring Russians in Ukraine, on the borders of Russia, and think it could get away with it. And we have big states thinking that with their supply of weapons, little Ukraine could come up victorious against the second most powerful military power in the world, with the biggest arsenal of nuclear warheads. 

This is the insanity of today's European leaders, unable to appreciate the change in the balance of power. And there are even smaller states like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, thinking they could sit on top of Russia to pull its whiskers and no harm would come to them.

In East Asia we have similar situations happening. South Korea, and little Japan still think they could provoke and threaten China and Russia, and like the little European states, failing to appreciate that the big powers are now China and Russia and they are midgets in comparison. And they too foolishly think they could start a war with China or Russia and win.

Further down south, Asean states are beginning to wisen up and open their eyes to the new realities. So far only two Asean leaders had openly acknowledged that it is futile to take on China, ie Mahathir and Duterte. Vietnam, the strongest of the Asean states, knew, after having taught many lessons on land and in the sea, has quietly toned down its rhetoric against China, and grudgingly cooperate with China in its economic development for its own good. Of course there are still a few Asean states that think taking sides against China is ok, with the backing of the USA. 

And going further down under, a sillier state, many times smaller and weaker than Ukraine, openly taunts China, sending antique aircraft and submarines into the South China Sea to challenge China when the Americans have to think twice to do that. Australia wants to declare war on China! Lunatics. What have they got to fight against China? Their nuclear submarines, just ordered, would only arrive in 2040. And its miserable air force and navy were even smaller than Singapore.

The small states of colonial days were lucky to have mightier war machine and weapons against weaker big states that did not have them. Today, the big states are not only big, but have superior weapons in quantity and quality than the small states. What drugs are the leaders of these small states smoking or taking to think they could do what the small states of colonial times did and be on the winning side?  Does it need much intelligence to understand the new balance of power? Any bright secondary school kids could see the mismatch. But the leaders of small states could not and every day thumping their chests like big apes but without the weaponry to fight a winning war.

When small countries could rule the world was an aberration, a blip in the history of civilisaton. Today, small states better wake up from their wild ideas and face the harsh reality that they are small states and better to behave like small states before being consumed by the big states and end up like Ukraine. 

Ukraine is an excellent example for small states to learn how to behave as small states, and to stop hallucinating in their wet dreams. They are allowed to jump around like little spoilt brats because the big states allowed them to. When the big states have had enough of their irritation, they will be spanked real hard by the big states. There will be no exceptions. Oh, Israel did not think so, and acting and behaving like old colonial states, everyday thinking, talking and planning to attack Iran or any Arab states. They think they are invincible and they could destroy Iran without themselves being destroyed. Such pure arrogance.

Little and small states, please be smart and behave accordingly. Stop thinking that they can punch above their weight against the big states. The Americans are unable to protect their little proxy states if other big states decided to whack the proxy states.