India, Aug. 29 -- There is a symbolic story about early humans who discover how to use flint to make a flame. They fight over control of it. Their first word is fire; their second word is war.

For as long as there has been something to control and protect, we have fought over how to do it.

War remains a central feature of our world.

Eighty years since the end of World War 2, that conflict is still shaping our reality. The battle in Gaza really began amid the fallout of World War 2. The perceived threat Russia presents to its European neighbours is rooted in the polarisation of the 1940s.

The ideological residue of the war still shapes alliances, defence budgets and threat perceptions. Meanwhile, the myth of the Long Peace (the idea th...