by Paul Craig Roberts from Foreign Policy Journal.
This former member of the Reagan administration makes a compelling and frightening argument that the current "Caesar" in the White House is playing with fire with the latest military attack on Libya. (Of course, the so-called Caesar is really only a figure head for the underlying political operatives of the ruling class.) On the other hand, if Russia and China find this invasion so threatening, why did they both abstain in the authorization for the attack when presented to the UN Security Council?
Thus, I don't feel that this particular attack is threatening to them, however there appears to be a pattern emerging of aggressive actions to counter and contain China and Russia which can lead to the "Next Great War". He sees a similar pattern that played out in the 20th century with horrific results.
Capitalist elites have a long history of fomenting wars in their competition to secure resources, markets, and cheap labor. And wars are generally profitable to them regardless of who wins. Corporations like the Krupp conglomerate, IG Farben, IT&T, Standard Oil, and Mitsubishi (many collaborated in business) nearly all prospered from WWII and continued in business after the war.
See also an article by Kevin Zeese entitled, "The Link Between War and Big Finance".