I have an idea, why don't i just argue my case here and then use
some of your replies as reference articles. hahaha.
Sometimes, man forgets how precious peace is until its gone. When
peace is taken for granted, the society breaks down as people
forget some of the values that were highly regarded in war. Values
such as loyalty, honor, and courage. The onset of Peace I feel is
often the onset of decadence to such values. That is when society
corrupts itself, reflected by rise in crime rate. 
Wouldn't such temporary peace at least remind us that we have to
hold other values above selfish desires?
Examples of military organizations. Institutions of violence and
destruction. Yet they hold values such as loyalty, honor and
courage above many organizations in peace-time society.
The writer Thomas Mann once wrote, "Is not peace an element of
civil corruption and war a purification, a liberation, an enormous
hope?"
Is the current peace, the type that will last? Or would it simply
decay itself into another war given enough time. A war that would
perhaps be more violent and more brutal, resulting in more
bloodshed. Is appeasement always the policy? Don't you think
multiple-small-scaled conflicts and skirmishes might actually ease
tensions and perhaps alter the course of the future to avoid larger
conflicts?
I suggest that if the allies, had taken Nazi-Germany' more
seriously when she breached the Treaty of Versailles, the 2nd World
War might not come about. It was because the Allies chose not to
take direct action, that resulted in the growth of Nazi-Germany's
ambitions. And if the Allies had not conceded Sudetenland and
Czechoslovakia, and threatened to go to war immediately, perhaps,
the war would not have lasted as long as it did.
In today's context, I see the United States play a role in
pre-empting conflict. And it does so by creating smaller, but more
restricted conflicts. Conflicts that do not expand out of a certain
geographical boundary. Ever since the fall of Saddam's Iraq,
majority of fighting and hostile actions has been localised in that
country itself.
Perhaps, if the United States did not topple Saddam, combined with
Iran's now transparent nuclear ambitions, a larger scale conflict
might actually evolve in the middle east with in 10 years?
In short, would you have multiple small skirmishes, or a once in 50
year World War? Knowing the capabilities of modern weaponry,
destructive powers of WMADs, I would think a few small wars in a
short span of time would be better off for the existence of
humanity. Peace? Lets enjoy it while it lasts.
