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Originally Posted by CaramonLS
The article doesn't even mention anything about MAD - as if that has nothing to do with it. The situation in Ukraine may have provoked international action 70 years ago, but it can't do the same now.
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True, and probably a relevant point. Then again the main point of reference in that article is 70's and 80's, and the decline in war since then clearly can't be because MAD.
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A couple of things - war is becoming mechanized. We are seeing an increase of drone strikes, especially in the middle east.
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True. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if war becomes so mechanized that less people have to actually put their lives at risk.
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I am unsure from the sourced chart in the article if things like the US drone strikes in places like Yeman or Pakistan (not directly in war zones) would count as a "war death".
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Good question.
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War is also becoming a product of technology - why have combat deaths and overt aggressive actions when you can unleash a program like Stuxnet to accomplish your goals without having the ability to have it traced back to you. China is continuing to pour resources into cyber warfare for a reason.
Combat deaths around the world might look like a nice number, but if anything, war is evolving and the ambitions that start wars still exist - they are just finding different ways to achieve their goals.
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While true, if that means less people dying I think we can agree it's a good development.
It's also not just wars that are on the decline, even though it's the topic of that article. Here's a TED talk on that topic.