Definitions HQ

War (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠always the war of sovereigns: there is no war without Warlords.

War (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the Event par excellence: not one more date in the list of victories and treaties, but the sovereign event that halts the course of history and starts it again.

War (n.) comes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠back as a figure out of an exasperated hunger for legitimacy and purpose, just when no one can believe any longer that economics has an end of its own.

War (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠perhaps like a film even before a film imitates war.

War (n.) fought ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠with missiles is no better and no worse than war fought with catapults — it is still war, just as fiber-optics leave open what communication means.

War (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠‘the continuation of politics by other means’ quietly demotes it from sovereignty’s supreme act to a tool — a shift that, carried through to the end, might be the end of war.

War (n.) borders ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠on art — not the strategist’s art but art in the modern sense: Being finishing itself in the explosive brilliance of the beautiful and the sublime; it is the monument, the festival, the somber sign of a community in its sovereignty.

War (n.) today ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠involves no mêlée at all: it begins by wiping out hand-to-hand combat and then spreads everywhere, gassing, irradiating and infecting the whole civilian space.