Why Do Wars Break Out?!

The Enduring Question of War

This question has occupied human minds since the dawn of history: Why do wars break out? Throughout human history, wars have flared up and died down, and this question has revolved with the turning of the mill of war. Humanity has yet to find a convincing answer to this day, for no sooner does one find an answer than a new war erupts, halting the search.

Ancient Perspectives on War

Since ancient times, war has been a part of the concerns of Christian clerics and Greek philosophers, extending to the modern era with European philosophers. Plato, for example, believed that war is necessary for politics, and as long as politics is necessary for the city, then war is also necessary. In ancient Greek epics like "Homer's Iliad" and others, there is a strong focus on wars as a means of acquiring wisdom and power, where we find heroes fighting gods to gain wisdom and knowledge, such as Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods, according to their beliefs!

Medieval Just War Theory

In the Middle Ages, the first contemplation of war as a means to achieve sacred goals emerged when Augustine developed the theory of "Just War." He believed that war becomes necessary to achieve noble aims and spread Christian values, distinguishing between moral and immoral war. The former has moral objectives, while the latter has immoral objectives. Moral war was called the "Holy War" among Christians; that is, a war for the triumph of the cross.

Modern Philosophers Glorifying War

In the modern era, many philosophers emerged who glorified wars. The German philosopher Hegel, for instance, considered war essential for preserving the moral health of nations, viewing it as a natural phenomenon that brings renewal to peoples, likening it to winds that keep the sea from becoming stagnant.

Karl Marx defended war because it drives nations towards capitalist development. He supported the British occupation of India and the French occupation of Algeria, believing they would transition Indian and Algerian societies from a feudal mode of production to a capitalist one, which he considered a necessary stage towards socialism. Marx also believed that all societies are based on class struggle, thus advocating for revolutionary violence to change capitalist conditions and ensure the triumph of the proletariat.

Other philosophers believed that war is sometimes necessary to impose peace, stating that peace is the norm among nations, but if achieving peace becomes impossible, war should be resorted to to enforce it by force.

The Roman Peace and the American Peace

The concept of "Pax Romana" (Roman Peace) has been famous since ancient times, inspired by Augustine's theory of "Just War." After the Roman Empire conquered and annexed numerous peoples, becoming a massive empire with a population of approximately 70 million—equivalent to one-third of the world's population at the time—the Romans decided to impose peace on everyone by force to maintain the Roman Empire's dominance.

The concept of "Pax Romana" or "Imperial Peace" is the concept with which the United States of America deals with the world today, what some call "Pax Americana." After the end of the Cold War, America began waging wars on other countries, especially Arab nations, to impose "American peace," which means the end of wars and global stability under American hegemony. If wars are necessary, then America alone should undertake them, not to aggress against peoples, but to impose peace on everyone!

The Return of "Just War" in Modern Times

Just as the concept of "Pax Romana" returned with America in the modern era, so too did the concept of "Just War" or "Moral War" that Augustine formulated long ago. When the neoconservatives came to power in America, they raised the slogan of "Just War." George W. Bush attacked Iraq and Afghanistan under the pretext of eliminating terrorism and ensuring world peace.

Zionist Echoes of "Moral War"

Today, we see the same concepts repeated by the Zionists. For example, the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks of a "moral war" against Hamas and the Palestinian people! He claims that the aggression on Gaza is a war of good against evil in defense of civilization! This is the same concept advocated by some European philosophers when they said that war is necessary for spreading noble values. Undoubtedly, defending civilization against "barbarism and terrorism" for the Zionists is a defense of the noble values of Western civilization.

Western Hegemony and the Rejection of Resistance

Western countries, led by America, have established rules that they have forcibly imposed on the world, including the rejection of violence and wars. They have developed a global strategy to combat what they call "terrorism." This means that the world, as they drew it a century ago, must remain as it is without change, because change would involve violence and wars, which are forbidden. Thus, war against American hegemony is considered terrorism because America must remain strong, and war against "Israel" is terrorism because it threatens a state recognized by the United Nations. After the West, since the colonial era, used force, violence, and wars to change conditions in its favor, today it rejects the struggle of occupied peoples for self-determination and independence, considering it violence and terrorism.

For decades, the West has rejected the Palestinian people's resistance against occupation. Despite the fact that Palestinians have waged and continue to wage their struggle against the Zionist occupation—a struggle guaranteed to them by all divine laws and international covenants—the West monopolizes the concept of "just wars" for itself, as if it truly holds just causes, while other peoples do not possess a just cause to defend and wage wars for! With this logic, the West condemns the world to continuous wars as long as its conscience refuses to awaken, to abandon its arrogance and barbarism, and to push oppressed peoples to wage their "just wars."