by Daniel Gauss 

There are more than 50 armed conflicts going on in the world right now. In fact, depending on how you define “armed conflict,” the number from the most trustworthy sources ranges from around 60 (using a strict, high-intensity definition) to over 150 (using a broader, low-intensity definition). We wake up, take a look at the news and often see that it’s war again. Again. An airstrike, retaliation, another round of funerals and recriminations.

A recent, well-publicized armed conflict was in South-East Asia between a government run by a father/son dictatorship duo and a government still dominated by its military establishment, where generals retain substantial power to influence and often overrule civilian politics at will. Both of these governments demanded and marshalled the patriotic fervor of their respective populations to square off over who “owned” a largely inaccessible 1,000-year-old temple in the middle of a forest, which does not even generate much tourism money. People died.

All these wars, clashes and skirmishes…if you listen closely, really closely, past the rattle of gunfire, the buzz of drones, missiles smashing into concrete buildings, the somber gravitas of the news anchor, you’ll hear it…the soft whimper of a bruised ego.

There is the assumption that war is often rationally motivated. Somewhere in a quiet, high-tech, air-conditioned war room, serious, highly educated and seasoned adults in formal attire or uniforms decorated with medals did the math, weighed strategic interests and analyzed existential threats. We then read that they had no choice but to take action, and, of course, according to the “humanitarian” rules of war, they tried to minimize civilian casualties.

But I sense that beneath all the theatrics is something simpler. Read more »