Can the spread of war be stopped?

 David Ignatius, Washinton Post - The biggest national security question for 2024 and beyond is how to craft new mechanisms that would actually combat the spread of war. Drums are already beating for future conflicts that would be far more deadly even than the current round: a battle between the United States and China over Taiwan, for example, or a military campaign to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

As we think about avoiding future wars, a good guide is President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a heroic commander in World War II and a determined opponent of what he called the “military-industrial complex.” “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity,” he said in 1946.

“The only way to win the next world war is to prevent it,” Ike said in 1956 as president. He succeeded in avoiding a nuclear catastrophe, and every subsequent commander in chief has echoed his message. The latest version was President Biden’s reported avowal with Chinese President Xi Jinping that “a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won.”