"The west" learnt diddly squat, but even if we assume "we" did -- the most significant turn-point of Western history in the last 150 years was the Holocaust. Are we saying any ethnic conflict on the planet will have to go through a holocaust before anyone "learns"?
> Thats why India has Gandhi
... and still discriminates and kills Muslims on a massive scale, even after partition.
> South Africa has Mandela
... and is now all but enacting white-discrimination in public institutions.
My point is that the concept of history as a progression of "lessons" is optimistic at best, and if we don't keep pushing at all times, things can revert to shit pretty quickly. UK news this week were a sober reminder that we are not all as civilized as we pretend to be.