For a world in which its leading nations consider themselves to be civilized, we do not in reality, live in a civilized world; for in a civilized world, differences between nations and nation-states, would not be “resolved” through acts of war and terror. So too, in order to properly defend a country, countries would not need to have standing armies of enormous size and power, nor armaments that have been specifically built not for defense but for offense.
In a fair and civilized world, before any war was waged or entered into, each country contemplating such a war, would have to make a case to a respected world politic of countries, specifically outlining their cause or justification for war, and then have those member states debate upon it, before coming to some sort of just resolution, that would preclude as much as possible, actually having a war. Regrettably, countries such as the United States of America, as well as other nations, simply declare war against other nations or nation-states without any real and meaningful debate, whatsoever; for countries that are already prepared for war, with all the armaments, logistics, and personnel ready to do so, just go ahead and do it.
As bad as declaring a war against another nation or nation-state is, this is often compounded by the fact that there doesn’t often seem to be any end plan for such a war, other than to destroy, damage, kill, and annihilate the enemy until submission. Somehow, lost in the act of war, is the very purpose of the war, of which, if that is not clearly understood by all responsible parties then the end result will always be destruction without its appropriate attendant restoration. Further, if the act of war, fails in the end, to benefit the people of the countries that have participated in that war, then all that bloodshed has pretty much been for nothing.
Those that truly believe that war, that is, the deliberate and targeted killing of other human beings by nations, is the best way to resolve differences, essentially believe that force equates to righteousness and right; but justice, itself, belies that viewpoint, for justice is the honest weighing of all factors in regards to a dispute, of which, force unleashed is seldom the just answer to any dispute.
So too, far too many countries, deceive themselves as well as deceiving others, when it comes to the conditions that aid and abet those decisions that lead to war, by not recognizing, that many disputes between nations, are, in reality, disputes between the political, military, and industrial leaders of those opposing countries, in which, the common citizens of those respected countries typically don’t have much a dog in the fight, but simply have an abiding desire to have a decent life.
That said, all wars should rightly be judged almost solely on the aftermath of that war, so that those that start wars but are unable to benefit and evolve mankind for having done so, should be subsequently stripped of their legitimacy for their insistence upon choosing the sword of force, rather than the table of democratic negotiation and fair peace.