War Is Now Absolutely Necessary — For the Ruling Elites
Written on 07 Jan 2026
The drums of war are beating, but not because of scarcity, but because the powerful are losing control of their subservients.
At a time when the AI revolution seems poised to bring about economic development unlike any other time, human potential flourishing as never seen before, humanity at its brightest moment, breakthroughts in treatments for disease, social media empowering millions to become their own employers, people more multidisciplinary, psychologically aware, academically educated, globally connected, and socially bonded than ever in history and these brilliant, talented people are now raising the most emancipated generation to come into being in about 10 years.
All the while the world is shrinking and seems almost as small as a backyard. Not much can remain hidden for long in a backyard, right? So much so the nature of the ideological / economic system, which now days lays bare for anyone to witness its near total disregard for decency.
A system once hailed “the end of history”.
But all that was all.... last year. Now it proudly reveals itself as primarily an extractor of wealth at all costs, disregarding the social contract upon which its source of power rests. Regarding human dignity, decency and respect it is underminning them conciously. The population needs to be engineered to be constantly frustrated, angry, undeserved, discriminated, wronged, unfocused, impatient, self centered out of design. These traits favor tension between people and resentment and hate and stereotyping. A prerequisite to halt any attempt for collective action.
These, mechanisms worked wonders and still do, but brave young and old persons can now easily navigate out of the fog. It may seem surprising, given how often people are portrayed as naive or ignorant but my guess is that a critical mass, more than needed to trigger change, already knows the truth. The current order is not broken, it is not mulfunctioning, but to the contrary it is working in higher revs to extract ever more.
These people know what the system is about.
They may believe they are hopelessly few.
They may believe organizing is impossible.
They point to the failures of institutional left, not because it’s ideologically naive, but because it’s structurally corrupt.
But cooperation in human societies is as natural as laughing with friends over beer on a Friday night gathering. The moment this critical mass turns the tide of understanding may be closer than we think. I once thought this moment was distant but the powerful made me revise my projections. Their actions speak clearly of their weakness, their clear and present dreadful fear of being disposed. The king is naked and he knows the people know it.
And he’s afraid of the moment the people realize he knows they know. Then it might be as simple as a new political force rising to replace the olygarchs.
If this is true, then the Grand Awakening is not coming, it is already here. War is thus necessary, not for the people, but for the powerful, to prevent the Grand Disclosure of this awakening.
Aggressive behavior is almost always a sign of weakness. So the United States returning to a form of aggression reminiscent of its pre-hegemonic past, is not asserting military dominance, which it has. (The US has 600+ military bases, the world has 200+ states). It is creating destabilization. The grandest distraction of all is societal destruction.
Once war abroad is normalized, then it can reach home. And that is the plan.
Once, people eagerly installed themselves as gears in the economic machine, what Michael Sandel called “the tyranny of merit.” Immense wealth, once laundered as “God’s will,” is now merit-washed.
The rich, super-rich, ultra-rich “deserve” their wealth not because of divine payback but because of “self-made” merit, the ideology of the Century of the Self.
This era is ending its frictionless journey in human history. It almost seems that if you stopped a random passerby and asked them to describe the world affairs, their answer would be further to the left than you assummed it would be, you may have even considered lecturing. So, why doesn’t the institutionalized left claim this reality?
Because it has not freed itself from power.
The powerful know they have lost legitimacy.
The people are no longer willing to follow without brute force.
And societal devastation is the only tool left for the powerful to cling to power and riches. By making people beg for water, not for justice, equity, kindnes, liberty and human flourishing.
It is not perceived but actual weakness driving this aggression. Near total collapse of legitimacy.
Thus, it seems to me that War is absolutely necessary — for the powerful.
While an anti-war movement is absolutely necessary for humanity.
The only thing movements, people, and organizations should focus on now — is building that global anti-war movement.
It nearly seems, as if Fukoyamma was right after all, calling it the end of history.
—Wingspan
Writing in Athens, Greece