The article is making the point that the proxy wars we've seen are peanuts compared to "real" war. What you're describing is a proxy war situation; which is the

The article is making the point that the proxy wars we've seen are peanuts compared to "real" war. What you're describing is a proxy war situation; which is the current status quo. The future probably looks a lot more like Russia's takeover of Crimea (say, China decides its military is big enough to take over Taiwan). Until eventually one of the big powers decides that enough is enough and it becomes a shooting war. That's how both world wars started and how the next one will likely start as well.