The Five Reasons Wars Happen [View all]

[littlemissmartypants]

Last edited Sat Jan 24, 2026, 04:31 PM - Edit history (1)

— (@2diamondeyes.bsky.social) 2026-01-24T19:37:01.736Z

Man shot during Minneapolis immigration crackdown has died, hospital record shows
Source: AP
https://democraticunderground.com/10143604247
https://democraticunderground.com/10143604201
https://democraticunderground.com/100220964441
https://democraticunderground.com/100220964406

Something's gotta give.

I hate conflict. Most people do. I think we should. But every person/entity only controls half of the equation in war. And this is chaos.

I am sick, having watched American citizens kill citizens in my country. It's no different than if the murder happened in my home in front of me.

.

— (@2diamondeyes.bsky.social) 2026-01-24T19:33:22.814Z

The Five Reasons Wars Happen
Christopher Blattman | 10.14.22

Five Reasons for War
Consider Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What do these five tell us about why peace broke down?

1. Unaccountable. A personalized autocrat, Putin doesn’t have to weigh the interests of his soldiers and citizens. He can pursue whatever course helps him preserve his regime’s control. When leaders go unchecked and are unaccountable to their people, they can ignore the costs of fighting that ordinary people bear. Instead, rulers can pursue their own agendas. That is why dictators are more prone to war.
2. Ideological
...Like Liberation movements throughout history—including the American revolutionaries—they have been willing to undertake the ruin and risks of fighting partly in pursuit of an ideal.
...
3. Biased...Humans have an amazing ability to cling to mistaken beliefs. We can be overconfident, underestimating the ruin of war and overestimating our chances of victory.
4. Uncertain...You can’t trust your enemy’s demonstrations of resolve because they have reasons to bluff, hoping to extract a better deal without fighting. Any poker player knows that, amid the uncertainty, the optimal strategy is never to fold all the time. It’s never to call all the time, either. The best strategy is to approach it probabilistically—to occasionally gamble and invade.
5. Unreliable When a declining power faces a rising one, how can it trust the rising power to commit to peace? Better to pay the brutal costs of war now, to lock in one’s current advantage. ...
Much more...
https://mwi.westpoint.edu/the-five-reasons-wars-happen/

If they still get paid when they kill, we're way beyond serious trouble.

We've crossed the rubicon, it seems. I'm being forced to choose a side, and that's not how I want to live. Can we go back from here? Not likely.

I will die for what I believe. How soon is the urgent question.

💧💔