Obama inherited messy and expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and an economy in meltdown.

Those on the left also shared a deep aversion to nationalism, born of two disastrous European wars.

After two world wars, displays of national fervor became more or less taboo in Europe. Nationalism was blamed for almost destroying the old continent twice in the 20th century.

Our modern history has witnessed two horrible world wars that brought untold sorrow and suffering to humankind.

The United States fought two wars (the First and Second Barbary Wars) over Algiers' attacks on shipping.

a massive increase in defense expenditures, fueled by two fruitless wars, but going well beyond that

The British pound only forfeited its role to the US dollar after more than 50 years of industrial decline and two world wars.

CAMBRIDGE In the first half of the last century, Europe tore itself apart in two wars and destroyed its central role in world politics.

All of this is highlighting America s own challenges, which are being exacerbated by its eroding global economic preeminence and involvement in two overseas wars.

It was also the first Asian country to emerge as a world power, defeating Manchu ruled China and Czarist Russia in separate wars.

After two catastrophic wars, Europeans decided to build institutions that would make military conflict redundant.

It was in the killing fields of Europe, in two successive wars, that the twin ideas of the United Nations and of the European Union became imperative.

Two wars and large defense budgets have given the Pentagon cash and clout to do things traditionally done by diplomats.

It follows two controversial wars (although the current nominees were not directly involved in the 2006 war with Hezbollah).

Sixty years ago, in the shadow of two catastrophic wars, the nations of the world created this institution in the hope that it would preserve peace and avoid further conflict.

Saddam Hussein was responsible for two major wars, in which hundreds of thousands died, many by chemical weapons.

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In Europe, transcending nationalism required not only two devastating world wars in the first half of the twentieth century, but also the prevalence of democratic regimes.

This was particularly true in the twentieth century, when, in the wake of two world wars, the United States and the Soviet Union replaced the European world powers on the global stage.

A century later, another American president, Barack Obama, immersed in two hopeless wars in the Middle East, received his Nobel Peace Prize with an apology for just wars.

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of that war. The experience of two world wars was foundational for European integration.

During the previous 70 years, Germany and France had fought each other in three devastating wars, the last two of which ruined Europe s economies and decimated its population.

It took Europe gruesome religious wars, two world wars, and more than one genocide to resolve its endemic disputes over borders and nationalism. Its record in colonialism wrote monstrous pages in human history.

Two horrific wars with local separatists, from 1994 1996 and from 1999 2006, have been fought over Chechnya, presumably to secure Russia s territorial integrity.

All of them were, in the parlance of the current immigration and refugee debate, economic migrants. During the twentieth century, racial persecution, political oppression, and the ravages of two world wars became the predominant causes of flight.

A century ago, Britain managed the rise of American power without conflict, but the world s failure to manage the rise of German power led to two devastating world wars.

So, after five years, the Colombia Plan, a part of two simultaneous global wars against drugs and terrorism has produced only uncertain and scanty results.

The first two were forced upon the US, but the third was the result of a willful, deliberate decision by former President George W. Bush, taken on ideological grounds and, most likely, for personal reasons as well.

Israel s two most recent wars against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, and against Hamas in Gaza in 2009 were fought against groups sponsored, supplied, and trained by Iran.

Israeli hardliners saw the war on terror and the war in Iraq as their wars, supported Bush s war like rhetoric and isolation of Iran, and considered the neo conservatives their ideological kin.

It is also time to close a chapter of history following two world wars and to move forward in our quest for collective security by working together in a much more inclusive, transparent and democratic manner.

But, while advocates speak of a limited surgical operation, what they are really talking about is the start of two wars an aerial war, led by the US and Israel, and an asymmetric war, led by Iran and its allies.

Much has changed, thanks to global capitalism, European integration, the stigmatization of national feeling by two catastrophic world wars, and, perhaps most importantly, the widespread loss of religious faith.

World War I was the trigger that set off the reversal, with economic globalization declining while military globalization increased, as witnessed by two world wars and a global cold war.

On her watch, two of the longest wars in US history have been wound down, America s alliances have been reinvigorated, and young women everywhere have been encouraged to pursue their dreams whether in academia, business, or politics.

Thus, although Obama also inherited two ongoing wars, nuclear proliferation threats from Iran and North Korea, and the continuing problem of Al Qaeda s terrorism, his early months in office were devoted to addressing the economic crisis at home and abroad.

But, although Hezbollah s preparations are likely to ensure its survival, it would be hard pressed to justify to the Lebanese public a strategy that led to two ruinous wars in the span of five years.

MELBOURNE After a century that saw two world wars, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin s Gulag, the killing fields of Cambodia, and more recent atrocities in Rwanda and now Darfur, the belief that we are progressing morally has become difficult to defend.

Because Americans misunderstood the motives behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States fought two costly wars, which did not defeat its enemies and have left the Middle East more volatile than ever.

Of course, his supporters argue that he had to adapt to two ongoing wars and the worst recession since the 1930 s. Moreover, after the 2010 mid term elections, a hostile Republican controlled House of Representatives blocked his initiatives.

Now, however, with China rising, global power rebalancing, and the US worn down by two decade long wars that have eroded its credibility, the postwar international order is under intense strain.

This was particularly true in the twentieth century, when, in the wake of two world wars, the United States and the Soviet Union replaced the European world powers on the global stage. The Cold War and the period of US global dominance after 1989 1990 followed this pattern as well.

Everywhere there is talk of a military option, which means air strikes. But, while advocates speak of a limited surgical operation, what they are really talking about is the start of two wars an aerial war, led by the US and Israel, and an asymmetric war, led by Iran and its allies.

The government is fighting at least two wars simultaneously taking on a deeply entrenched oligarchy, while trying to fend off its hostile eastern neighbor. Further trouble in the form a steeply declining economy is something it cannot afford.

Next winter, it will be sixty years since an army crossed the Rhine River bringing death and destruction the longest such period since at least the late second century B.C., when the Cimbri and Teutones challenged the army of the Roman Consul Gaius Marius in the Rhone Valley.