That "data" looks very suspect. For example, the graph titled "Violent deaths in conflicts and one-sided violence since 1989" appears to leave out the Iraq War. Maybe it relies on Iraq Body Count, which is known to undercount deaths by a factor of a few.

Even if one accepts this "data," however it's been put together, the 1970s and 1980s were extremely violent times. They may look tame in comparison to WWII, but we should remember that WWII is the bloodiest conflict in human history. The "long peace" really only refers to an era in which major powers did not fight one another directly, but rather through proxy conflicts in the Third World.

The middle easy in a recent exception? You lost me.

It's probably a typo: "The Middle East is...".

Indeed, that’s what I meant. The perils of turning off autocorrect.

I think GP meant Middle East.