By Ron Unz
The Unz Review
March 11, 2026
For centuries, modern nations had generally conducted their wars in rather gentlemanly fashion, usually making efforts to comply with all the laws and international treaties regulating such conflicts.
A war might often begin with a downcast ambassador delivering a diplomatic note to the accredited government, informing its political leadership that unless certain crucial demands were immediately met, a state of war should be assumed to exist by noon the following day.