New Delhi, March 24 -- The juxtaposition of the Russia-Ukraine war and unfolding US-Israel-Iran war offers a compelling window to the evolving character of contemporary warfare. One is a protracted, grinding contest of endurance; the other, a sharp demonstration of rapid, multi-domain coercion.

Yet, taken together, they underline a common truth: technological change has not simplified war, it has made it more complex, more diffuse and less predictable. If anything, the promise of decisive victory has receded, replaced by a spectrum of outcomes shaped by persistence, adaptability and the management of escalation.

Ukraine has come to embody the logic of attrition in the 21st century. The battlefield is saturated with low-cost, high-impact...