In the very limited definition of war that is taking territory from another country (which that country then looses), and where the deaths of soldiers and destr

In the very limited definition of war that is taking territory from another country (which that country then looses), and where the deaths of soldiers and destruction of property can be discounted, war can be considered zero-sum. But obviously that was never true, and the regimes that pretended is was true don't really exist in the west anymore since around WWI -- war (in this "classic" sense) is massively negative-sum. Having a military as a means to fight wars could then also be understood as negative-sum -- but having a military as a means to not fight a war (deterrence) can be considered positive-sum. It certainly ain't zero-sum. Graeber seems to have a rather naive view of "goons". Yes, it would be nice if there was no need for military (or police, or security guards etc), and you can imagine a world where this is the case, and that world is certainly massively desirable. But until we do bring about that world, "goons" do serve a practical purpose.