In our lifetime, everything the West [and by "the West" I mean the US and its coat tail dragger - UK] has been embroiled in - has spectacularly failed:
How old
are you TC? I'm not that old, and yet in my lifetime I can cite the list below as being anything other that spectactular failures...
Falklands
Gulf War 1
Kosovo
Sierra Leone
And they're just the ones that come instantly to mind....