I know. Lately my articles have been about war and the futility of war. Not all of them are a waste of time, blood, and resources, however, some can actually be justified, same as acting in self-defense. WW2 is a good example. In the face of a strongly fortified and well-armed Germany who wanted to take over Europe, including Russia, kill all the Jews and establish a new world order, our interdiction, I think, was warranted. So was our war against an Imperial Japan
Most of the other wars, however, are nothing but dusty dirty dog fights between armed morons and that includes us: they change nothing, kill mostly civilians, perpetuate mistrust and hatred and destroy the little some people have, especially the poor. The Vietnam War is a prime example. With the exception of the World Trade Center, I’ve never heard of a recent conflict destroying a luxury skyscraper full of expensive apartments. Only small apartment buildings seem to get destroyed, those in poor neighborhood, full of poor people, living with their poor families, trying to survive in their streets full of rubbish, bullets and potholes. And this includes the war on drugs, which is mostly fought in the hoods of other countries, never on Wall Street or some such places, where the money comes from and the drugs are consumed.
Afghanistan was totally unjustified, in my view, and so was our war in Iraq, the second one anyway, as well as the Russian war in Afghanistan before we got there, and so is the fighting going on between Israel and the Palestinians today. Damn them both. And if you believe in the declared cease fire, tell that to your tooth fairy and see what she says.
Then, there is the ongoing war in Yemen, in Darfur, and the sometimes on and off conflict between India and Pakistan. Over the past 50 years there have been hundreds of conflicts, some of which we have been barely aware of, although I admit to have been bothered by the background noise of a few, like when the neighbor mows his lawn while I’m trying to read: distant and annoying, yes, but over there, not here. The Chadian civil war, the war in Lebanon, the Falkland war, the Iran Iraq war, the war in the Central African republic, the Russian war against Georgia, the Crimea war, to name just a few, as well as every other armed conflict going back to the Vietnam war. Did I mention Nigeria, Somalia, or the Sudan? I stop at Vietnam because I had to stop somewhere. Any further back and the list goes into next week.
Here is my essay ref. the Israeli Palestinian war. We might as well call it what it is. Here is a link to the article: Denton Record Chronicle.