Imminent Tensions

Yet another article that makes me suspect that there's reason to be optimistic about the future:

Pipeline diplomacy creates peace in region: Pakistan PM

The increasing importance of Central and South Asia has given many the impression that the region is where the next wars will be. Certainly, that's a possibility. But we might also want to keep in mind that as we increasingly approach a Matlhusian state of world affairs, it will be far more profitable for countries to cooperate in this kind of manner. Not out of some mutual concern for each other's welfare, but for simple self-interest. I'm certain that neither India nor Pakistan care greatly what the pipelines from Iran do to each other's economy. What they do care about is what these projects will do to their own economies. Similarly, I wonder if most of our coming resource shortages might not be mitigated or solved outright by the coinciding of self-interest and the realization that we aren't going to be able to kill our way to prosperity.

I'm no starry-eyed liberal, but there's always hope that we might learn the lesson that World War One taught us quite clearly: In modern war, even the winners lose.