The Maelstrom of Violence

[Bob Butler 54]

(09-01-2017, 09:32 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: I think the era of the draft is over.  With nuclear weapons and modern military technology, wars are no longer just a matter of how many warm bodies you can put in the field with rifles.  You don't lose a war because one disgruntled draftee frags his sergeant, but when you're regularly using nuclear weapons, that picture changes.

That's true enough as far as it goes, but as usual there are more factors.  I am thinking modern insurrection is something else to watch.

In the original colonial imperial era, one colonial power tended not to go around arming another power's natives.  That has gone away.  Today, it doesn't seem hard to find someone willing to arm you.  For every would be colonial power, there tends to be another with conflicting interests thrilled to let someone else die for their cause.

The population size in insurrections also tends to be problematic.  To suppress an insurrection these days, you need a number if boots on the ground proportional the the local population.  The would be colonial powers don't seem ready to mobilize that many boots.

Then there are world views.  The Middle East has totally discredited Western values.  The locals also have severe difficulties fighting traditional war with things like tanks and front lines.  We're seeing religious values and war by atrocity.  If they can't seem to win by our rules, they'll look to change the rules.  It would take a different form in other parts of the world, but in war you can't expect what you want.

These don't change what you say about nuclear weapons, but as you say, the picture changes.