The Changing Definition of War In The World and in Israel

In Small Wars Journal, Jill Long writes What is War? A New Point of View

War is no longer a discrete action of armed conflict but a continuum of engagement in order to limit the dissonance between a nation’s will and that of other state and non-state actors. In war, nation-states and non-state actors utilize all means available; diplomacy, economic influence (including multi-national corporations and non-governmental organizations), information operations, social influence, and educational influence as well as military force in order to encourage adherence to their will. As such wars do not end; rather imposing one’s will and maintaining harmony between national objectives and those of the international community to the level of acceptable adherence precludes the use of armed conflict.

War is the coherent execution of all means to bring about sufficient adherence to a nation’s will in the international (global) arena; resulting in armed conflict only when all other means fail.

If there is one major implication of the new definition of war that sets it apart from the old one, it is an implication that points to how unsatisfying war has become:

Romney May Be As Unlikely To Strike Iran As Obama -- But Will He Give Israel The Keys?

Lee Smith explains Why Romney Won’t Strike Iran:

A Republican president is no more likely than a Democrat to stage a pre-emptive attack on Iran, and American support for an Israeli attack is the very best that Israeli leaders can hope to expect from the White House, regardless of which party inhabits it.

Smith explains that the answer is three-fold, and it does not make a difference whether the president at the time is Obama or Romney: