To the victor, war is the means of extending national or imperial
frontiers and legalizing expansion at the expense of the vanquished.
Defeat in war leads to the imposition of indemnities, the payment of
tribute, the transfer of territory to the victor and in extreme cases
the extermination of the defeated nations or empires.
Settlements imposed by violence and policed by victors lead to
resentment, antagonism, hatred and the build-up of a desire for revenge,
including the restoration to the vanquished of lost territories. The
logical outcome of such a situation is preparation for a war of
independence by the vanquished, countered by military occupation, rigid
suppression, and exploitation by the victors in the previous struggle.
War is taken for granted as an instrument of policy. It is employed by
civilized nations and empires as a means of expansion. Wars of
independence and restitution follow conquest, dismemberment and
annexation. Civilized nations and empires prepare for war and wage war
as a normal aspect of civilized life.
Civilization, and in particular western civilization, is a time-bomb,
built to detonate and scatter its fragments far and wide. It is a type
of booby trap in which humanity has been caught periodically and
horribly mangled. Without exception, each civilization has contained the
forces and equipment needed for its own annihilation. At no time
reported by history has this formulation been more obvious than during
the decades immediately following war's end in 1945.
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