What a bunch of lunatic losers
But they are not all lunatics and they are not all losers.
They had gun powder, paper money, rockets, printing, an earthquake warning mechanism giving the direction the quake was; a great sea fleet; enormously beautiful arts etc. when the west was still goveling with the pigs.
Their arrogance, selfishness, greed, power mongering, corruption etc. have hampered them and probably accounted for most of their ills, their false starts, their backwardness etc. . . as they have ours.
They feel they are overdue to rule the world. Many in the hierarchy are doing their utmost to make it happen and d*mn the details, d*mn the expense, d*mn the lives lost and mangled--indeed, the countries lost and mangled.
It's a mistake to characterize the lot of them as lunatic losers. They would be happy to use that misperception to your own demise.