http://m.norwalkcitizenonline.com/technology/businessinsider/article/STRATFOR-founder-George-Friedman-Be-ready-for-6875875.php
STRATFOR founder George Friedman: 'Be ready for war'
Armin Rosen, provided by
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http://www.businessinsider.com/>
Published 9:24 am, Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Interstate warfare is a thankfully unusual occurrence in the present day.
State-assisted nonstate groups frequently fight governments, a scenario
currently unfolding in Syria, Eastern Ukraine, and a host of other places.
But you'd have to go back to the US-led invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq
in 2003, or the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict of the late 1990s for an example
of two nations fighting a full-scale ground war against one another.
The two world wars were catastrophic proof of the inherent instability of
an international system that allowed for frequent interstate conflicts and
that considered warfare to be a legitimate foreign policy option, rather
than an absolute last resort.
He warned that destructive interstate warfare has been a recurring
characteristic of global politics and he said it could make a comeback.
Friedman noted that there have been earlier periods in which international
observers have been deluded into believing nations would no longer go to
war.
"From 1815 to 1871 there was not an interstate war of any substance in
Europe," said Friedman. "Then came World War I, a biggie."
Friedman warned that in the modern era, every period of peace has been a
built-up towards a violent reckoning. "There has never been a century that
has not had a systemic war — a systemic war, meaning when the entire system
convulses," Friedman continued, citing the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic
Wars, and the world wars. "Do you want to bet this will be the only century
that doesn’t have one? I’ll take that bet."
Received on Tue Mar 08 2016 - 22:12:21 EST