A senior US diplomat warned Pacific Islands of a new struggle against violent power-hungry regimes Sunday, as she visited the Solomon Islands to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II’s Battle of Guadalcanal. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hit out at a new crop of world leaders reviving “bankrupt” ideas about the use of force — without mentioning any countries. Attending a dawn memorial service in the Solomon Islands, Sherman said “some around the world” had forgotten the cost of war, or were ignoring the lessons of the past. She hit out at “leaders who believe that coercion, pressure, and violence are tools to be used with impunity”, but did not specify any names during her speech at the service. Painting the situation today as carrying faint echoes of the fight against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in the 1930-40s, the State Department number two urged the region to push back. “We remember how bankrupt, how empty, such views were then, and remain today,” she said. “Today we are once again engaged in a different kind of struggle — a struggle that will go on for some time to come.” (https://news.yahoo.com/us-warns-pacific-islands-struggle-020523717.html) Sherman’s trip comes as the United States tries to rebuild diplomatic relations in the Pacific, where China is growing stronger and democratic alliances have faltered.