I love the term lukewarm war.

A real direct war between major powers today would not only lack true sustained support from the people of those nations (currently - though we've seen this change in the past with propaganda and as the bombs start to fly), but it would also come at the cost of never-before-seen destruction of both human life and of infrastructure. Queue that famous Einstein quote.

Essentially the costs of traditional warfare in human life and cultural dollars has grown directly in proportion to the destructiveness of modern weaponry. Running partner to that, the old notion that more destructive weapons mean shorter wars was demonstrated false by the second world war as it raked in casualties on a monthly basis that match those of wars past.

The interests of major powers to control resources and to direct culture and to grow spheres of influence, however, still exist as does a geopolitical chess board.

America has not declared war since the 1940s - but how many wars has it been in? Military actions between nations now exist as "incidents" and "conflicts" rather than wars.

War in the modern era is a game of soft power, a game of proxy, and a game of leverage, influence, stability, reputation, information and economics. The recent leaks (of Manning and Snowden and Assange and others) together make references by both direct reference and by evidence of operations pertaining to economic warfare, network warfare, and psychological warfare are daily practice. It is only those unlucky regions whose stability has been compromised or engineered away that see violent intervention.

> America has not declared war since the 1940s... started and provoked quite a few though ;-)

America is currently in a state of war, declared by congress.

There is nothing in the constitution which requires the use of the word "war" in a declaration of such. In a practical sense "authorization of use of military force" is a declaration of war.

The question I have, is it better for all of us than one of the old-fashioned guns-n-bombs style wars? If so, I am more than in favor of moving to a world where all warfare is just rich, powerful entities fucking with each other monetarily.

Better, yes. Good no.

It does seem like this war will at least be paid for with tax dollars and wasted time rather than conscription and wasted life.

Might get rough if something like Uroburos or Stuxnet (as in large nationally produced cyberattacks) gets into the wild and does god knows what.