The Art and History of War (January 2023)

Ziggy, long accustomed to being consulted deferentially by the world's potentates, summoned Daddy Warbucks, the trillionaire industrialist heavily invested in large weapons research and development, to their (sing.) estate in ____________. The term 'estate' was no longer fitting as this wasn't simply a grand and enormous property somewhere in the United States or Germany or China or even on the dark side of the moon. It was a dimension and not one of the four where most of us live and die. In that dimension, our scientists and philosophers couldn't tell us how the laws of physics lie (lay). Only the 99th percentile of Earth's one-percenters had access, and while scientists and philosophers might serve, membership would be unthinkable.

Zeitgeist, Ziggy to Daddy Warbucks and his confrères, had been around since creation, and because they (Ziggy) had connections with the most influential, they possessed an unrivalled knowledge of human history. Of course, Ziggy was never acknowledged as 'real' and only the conspiracy theorists—'crackpots' is the synonym most often used to discredit such people prima facie—among the bulk and mass of us ever suspected their existence.

The situation the world found itself in at the time was a prolonged era of peace with a general level of comfort if not prosperity. No historians and no published histories had ever told of such a time, and the youngest generations among us were too young to remember and couldn't even imagine the scale of violence and death caused by the 21st-century nuclear wars.

That would change if Daddy Warbucks could persuade Ziggy to go along with his revolutionary idea of creative destruction by means of 'just wars.' Of course, these were not novel ideas. Creative destruction—the demolition of the old economy to make way for a new economy—had circulated with the writings of J.A. Schumpeter in the middle of the 20th century, and iustum bellum had been nurtured in the human bosom back to the Indian subcontinent, China and Egypt before it became officially recognized in Europe as a fundamental aspect of international law, in part owing to the influence of ideas such as those of the Dutch legal theorist, Hugo Grotius, who was responding to the bloody and protracted Christian wars of the mid-17th century.

The wars of the early 21st century had been a boon for business and not just for arms manufacturers. The complete economic rebuilding of countries created a gold-rush climate for entrepreneurs and investors. Fortunes were made, many of today's 99th percentile of the one-percenters tracing their family wealth to the massive reconstruction efforts. In Europe and East Asia, these efforts exceeded the scale of the post-World War II Marshall Plan. Such wasn't the case in Latin America or Africa ... and it never had been.

Ziggy had been there, and had played a significant role in orchestrating wars and their aftermath. A somewhat surprising fact given that today Ziggy is credited with the 'peace and prosperity' years. Warbucks knew this. It was family business, and Ziggy was a very old friend of the family.

Now, Warbucks, whose 13-figure asset hoard had not seen double-digit growth in decades, had to seek Ziggy's assistance to recover from this financial stagnation. Warbucks thought the time was right. Ziggy, who was not a particularly stable character, had very fickle moods, and Warbucks thought that they (Ziggy) might be looking for something to shake things up. Family history had demonstrated that there was nothing like an extended calm to facilitate the stirring of the anxious soul of Ziggy.

And so the meet happened ... in some exclusive dimension. Ziggy was quite receptive, having grown bored with the tedium of peace and well-being, so they didn't require much persuasion. Daddy Warbucks judged Ziggy correctly as had his forebears.

Within the year, broadcasts of imminent war were circulating around the world. National and civilizational loyalties surged ... political conflicts heated up. Weapons research, development and procurement proceeded apace. Frenzied calls were loud and plenty for 'just wars,' righteous wars, wars for civilization against barbarism. Ziggy had mastered their arts of persuasion over millennia, and a relatively brief calm hadn't altered their skillfulness.

Within two years, millions had died from all the divers causes associated with the warfare of homo sapiens—not just the bullets and bombs but starvation, the diseases (many thought long vanquished), the anguish and the exterminations (also thought finally subdued).

Shortly after the 'destruction' phase, global markets came alive with a fury and fullness not seen in generations. Massive piles of wealth were accumulated. New aristocratic genealogies were founded and the established were further embellished. This was the new order ... resurrected ... yet again. The 'creative' phase was in full swing.

Daddy Warbucks, along with his confederates, were invited to a once-in-an-age celebratory function at Ziggy's, and naturally, Ziggy was the star of the event and the object of universal praise ... in Ziggy's private dimension, that is.