The idea of countries going to war over rational self-interest or actual tangible threats is an outdated notion. We pick our enemies along ideological and secul

The idea of countries going to war over rational self-interest or actual tangible threats is an outdated notion. We pick our enemies along ideological and secular-religionist lines, and the continued existence (and god forbid, even flourishing) of polities that conduct their way of life differently from our own cannot stand. Neoliberalism/neoconservatism (n.b. they are effectively two sides of the same coin) is the world's most prominent religion, and the United States is its Holy See. Refusal to kiss the ring will be punished. Of course, this is nothing new. Constantine put heretics to the sword, pagan temples were burned and desecrated all over Scandinavia, and the Crusades were definitely a thing. Religion will always be a part of the human condition, and the nonbelievers will always be the enemy. Just don't make the mistake of assuming that religion requires a God or the supernatural. All you need is a non-falsifiable belief system of some form, whose tenets cannot be demonstrated with facts, and must instead be validated by violence and the threat thereof. Russia, Iran, and Syria (previously Iraq, Lybia, and Yemen) reject the blank-slatism and other patently false doctrines of neoliberalism and neoconservatism. Their existence cannot be permitted, so we need to invent reasons to destroy them. Such as it is, such as it has always been.