When the Kwantung Army of Japan invaded Manchuria crushing Chinese forces in 1931, the world did nothing. It was the first sign of ineffectiveness of the League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Then, in 1937, Japan started to invade China capturing city after city. When Nanking fell, they killed hundreds of thousands of people.When Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935, the world did nothing. Over 250,000 Ethiopian combatants were killed. It was just another major setback of the League. In fact, many world leaders praised Mussolini's conquest.Adolf Hitler was bolder. Even so, when German troops occupied the demilitarized Rhineland in March 1936, the world did nothing. Understanding that the League had no guts to stop him, Hitler annexed Austria in 1938. He provoked little response from the world. Then he staked claims on the Czech Sudetenland. The situation was going downhill when the territory was conceded to Germany in the Munich Agreement but British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain spoke the words remembered as an irony: "I have returned from Germany with peace for our time."The world's response to the Spanish Civil War was even worse. Not only Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to General Franco, but also U.S. companies including Ford, GM and Texaco provided machine tools, trucks and oil despite the embargoes. Many Catholics rallied to support Franco. The Republic fell and Franco won in 1939. At least 500,000 were killed. Roosevelt was going to admit that their policy toward Spain had been a grave mistake later.The world did nothing to help Jews when Kristallnacht was carried out in 1938 by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany and Austria. Encouraged, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia breaking his promise in 1939 while labeling the British and Jews as war-mongers on the other side. His next target was Poland.World War II, which is viewed as the war won by the goods forces against German Nazism, Japanese militarism and Italian fascism, was just starting after years of ignorance, selfishness and foolishness. Some were too late to see the deterioration and to prevent the death of millions, while some were disgustingly cruel like Henry Truman who said, "If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible."In 80 years, the world barely changed. The situation deteriorates further every day, yet the world does nothing. Amidst mass killings and after large-scale use of chemical weapons, Bashar al-Assad now stands again for presidency. After extensive massacres of anti-coup protesters and amidst hundreds of death penalties, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is seeking presidency. The world does nothing but give defective reactions with little protest. Among other unrests, Ukraine has become the latest tragedy as Vladimir Putin concludes that the West has no stomach to stop him but only stirs trouble. I wonder which Western leader will admit first that their policies in Syria were a grave mistake, before we all pay the price.