PEACE AND WAR; WAR AND PEACE

Tolstoy, the great author and thinker on the subject, has certainly not written the last word on this topic. In Biblical terms the Armageddon--the final count down for the very last war on our planet-- is still ticking. That is for the Civitas Dei (realm of God) versus the civitas terenna (realm of Satan) according to the formulations of Arelius Augustines. It is a war of ideas. A war of words. A war of deadly weapons and machines. It is psychological warfare most of the time...Gunboat diplomacy, i.e to scare one another even during peace talks. If you do not submit to peace, we could attack you. "Look at our gunboats floating by..." The era of the so-called Cold War. Nuclear and inter continental missile capacity with star war concepts only replaced the old gunboats. But the ideas how to wage war remained the same. Bellum omnia contra omnes, the Latin for 'a total war of any idea against every idea'. Philosophers debate the ethics of war while the militia conduct war for the sake of war like artists conduct 'art pour la art'. There is no just or a fair war according to international lawyers. War could always have been prevented by diplomacy or peacekeeping measurements. Confer to the Holy Bible when somebody wants to wage a war against you, send your messengers (read diplomats) to come to terms for peace. However, as the saying goes, as long as "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must", there will be war and rumors of war...Subsequently peacekeeping operations will always be needed and to Endeavour to quell the revolts.