War is a chameleon, possessed of an infinite capacity to adapt itself to changing circumstances. But in adapting, it preserves its essential nature: brutal, capricious and subject to only precarious control. With the passing of the Cold War, some well-meaning observers have speculated that war is on its last legs, its further intrusion into the realm of politics neither useful nor welcome. Dazzled by the ostensible transformative potential of the information and biotech revolutions, others have conjured up phantasms of war rendered kinder and gentler, offering the advanced powers a precise and predictable instrument for coming to the assistance of the oppressed and correcting the world's injustices. From this perspective, armed force promises to become more purposeful and less subject to chance than ever before.

LRB 3 March 2005 | PDF Download