SINCE one of the first ever wars that took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BCE between Sumer and Elam, the world as a whole or in part have never known peace cumulatively for up to one decade. Each of these wars that followed has always been linked to one reason or the other. Some of the many reasons include territorial ambition of some overzealous leaders, struggle for independent, protest against oppressive governments, internalized national struggles for leadership, secessionist ambition of some groups of people around the world amongst others.
The turning point in the globally acknowledged wars that threatened the existence of man on earth were the first and second world wars (1914 -1918) and (1939 -1945) respectively. Though these two wars readily resonates in the minds of history enthusiast each time mentions are made of notable wars, there were other significant ones before them. They include the French revolution (1789-1799) against Great Britain that gave rise to an independent nation of France in 1792 and the American war of independence (1775-1783), resulting into the independence of the world’s richest country and most militarily equipped nation in 1776. The American war gave impetus to that of France.
However, the many wars of today can be classified as wars without reasons. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the only reason that mind readers saw for it was the fact that the country allowed the United States of America to station her war implements in a certain location that threatened Russia’s military might even when America was noiseless about her actions. In the case of the present face-off between Israel and Iran, the former attacked the Arab nation merely because she perceived that Iran was nursing the ambition of launching nuclear weapons, not that that has been proved to threaten the country commonly referred to as America’s 51st state.
In the words of Alexander Hamilton, an American military officer, statesman, one of the founding fathers of USA and the country’s secretary of treasury during the administration of President George Washington between 1789 and 1795; “There can be no profit in the making or selling of things to be destroyed in war. Men may think that they have such profit, but in the end the profit will turn out to be a loss”. This perhaps underscores the regret of Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the Swedish Chemist and Engineer who invented the dynamite in 1867. He tried to no avail in wiping his ugly action out of the memory of historians despite the institution of his famous Nobel Prize for literature, physics, chemistry, medicine and peace.
Meanwhile, reports from international military note takers show that the US military has attacked three key Iranian nuclear facilities early Sunday, the 22nd of June 2025, local time. According to them, President Donald Trump claimed the operation “obliterated” the sites, but officials are still assessing how significant of a blow it dealt to Tehran’s program. Additionally, the US “Operation Midnight Hammer”: B-2 stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen massive “bunker-buster” bombs on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz facilities, while Tomahawk missiles struck Isfahan, according to a US timeline of the attack. All of these have left devastating blows on the 9th highest oil producing nation of the world.
In response to these claims, Tehran denounced the US and Israel at an emergency UN Security Council meeting and voiced skepticism about the potential for diplomacy. This is as the world awaits an official response from the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Now, the crux of the matter lies in the Future US involvement in possible strikes that may launch the US fully into the Israel-Iran conflict, which has seen the two sides trade attacks for over a week in line with Trump’s top administration officials’ insistence of that the US is not at war with Iran, but that Trump has warned that the US could launch more attacks if Tehran does not make peace and suggested on Sunday (22 June, 2025) evening that regime change was possible in the country.
Aside from the display of ‘show of force’ as used in military and police parlance, how can America justify her involvement in this war that has led to the death of many civilians on both sides of the warring nations in addition to the economic disruption that has sprung up in the development mantra of many countries of the world that do not even have ideas of the two wars that are currently being fought by Israel?
In addition to these major fragile wars, there are other similar ones drowned by the economic and social noise in less powerful nations of the world like Nigeria which got her political independence on October 1, 1960. Just three years into her state of nationhood (1963), the military stuck in an attempt to wrestle power from the civilian leaders due to what they termed ‘irresponsible governance’. This led to the declaration of Major General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi as head of state. A counter coup took governance away from Ironsi and ushered in the then Col. Yakubu Gowon as the new leader.
This change of guard resulted into what later became popularly known as the Nigeria/Biafra war between 1967 and 1970. Over 55 years after the end of the conflict, other forms of war along this line still occupy spaces in the hearts of the regions that championed the secessionist revolution. Amidst all these, the nation had also introduced other unfinished silent wars. They include the war against indiscipline and corruption as proposed by the Buhari/Idiagbon leadership era between 1984 and 1985.
There are equally wars between Nigerians and terrorists, insurgents, bandits and the unending one against corruption and electoral malpractices. All these are wars without reasons. They rage because of the nation’s failure to embrace and instill disciplinary measures in her constitutions. Consequently, many people promote these wars with reckless abandon without being properly brought to justice.
In the meantime, these local or international wars can be checked if the G8 counties (now G7 after the expulsion of Russia over the annexation of the Crimea, a de jure sub division of Ukraine in 2014) can agree within itself to admit emerging world powers such as China, India, Iran and the rest. This will be with a view to fashioning out the only ways and manners world powers can justify their invasion of other nations within or outside the group in the name of provocation of any type.
The world is tending towards self-destruction. From all indications only deliberate and agreed actions by the powers that be can reverse the awaiting doom.
