Fact of the Day

In the last quarter century our world has hosted 98 wars, 26 of these are ongoing. 

The bill for maintaining huge stores of weapons and some 70 million people in uniform currently stands at $1.7 trillion, a year. Of these wars, over 85 percent are not settled on the battlefield; they are fought to desperately hurting stalemates, eventually being turned over to diplomats and politicians who go in search of whatever face-saving outcomes may still be available. And yet, abandoning the conference table in favour of the battlefield is still justified when viewed as a last resort.