> Wealthy is destroyed by war and disaster, or ground away slowly by consuming without creating.
Would the war in Ukraine not be a contributing factor to this? Essentially it is a proxy war between US/Europe and Russia. Yes no assets on US soil have been destroyed but the US has sent trillions of dollars of weapons to the Ukraine and that money has to come from somewhere.
It’s not a proxy war, because US and EU aren’t fighting at all - they are merely providing support. Compare with eg Syria, where US was actually taking part.
I feel like your definition of proxy war must be stricter than mine. The west is supplying weapons, training, intelligence etc. There’s no American boots on the ground officially but I would be surprised if elite western units weren’t involved in covert operations disrupting Russian assets around the world in some capacity. My definition of a proxy war is that of a war fought between two sides in a third country that is not part of either’s territory. If Ukraine had not been supplied with western weapons, training and intelligence on an ongoing basis then this war would probably be looking very different right now so it meets my definition at least. I’d say this also aligns with the description on wiki:
Wikipedia definition differs in one crucial detail: it's a "conflict between two states or non-state actors, one or both of which act at the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities." In this case there was no "instigation" - Ukraine is defending, it hasn't been forced into conflict by the West.
I do see your point. The definition implies a lack of free agency in Ukraine's involvement. There must be some kind of word for it, but I have no idea where to find it. If not, one should be coined. "Symbiotic war" is about the best I can come up with.
Would the war in Ukraine not be a contributing factor to this? Essentially it is a proxy war between US/Europe and Russia. Yes no assets on US soil have been destroyed but the US has sent trillions of dollars of weapons to the Ukraine and that money has to come from somewhere.