I don't think along those lines. I don't see state A and their military on one side, and state B with their military on the other, and war profiteers somewhere

I don't think along those lines. I don't see state A and their military on one side, and state B with their military on the other, and war profiteers somewhere else -- I see state A and B, their militaries and all war profiteers on one side, and civilians, the people who both get to die and pay for the stuff, on the other. E.g. the elites in China and the US have more in common with each other than with the populations they screw over, and those populations have more in common with each other than with their own so-called leaders. Also, if a military is only useful to defend against other militaries, and that is the actual reason it exists, how did the first military organization come into existence? They had nothing to defend against, so maybe they just made something up? Oh look, the moon is so very round today, we need to attack the neighbouring tribe before they kill us all... I think it's perfectly possible that war has always been a racket, and that Stockholm Syndrome and nothing else keeps it going.