by Stan Rezaee

Created on: September 07, 2009

The advancement of civilization has only been made possible by great minds because of their nations need to effectively wage war against another state. The majority of the conflicts in history has been a war over the desire of one state to control a supply of resources belonging to another state.

Water is no exception to this. There is an abundance of water, yet it is very scarce to the population of the world because of geographical locations. Access to water routes has given one political entity control over the living and economic conditions of a region. Historically major wars, battles, civil unrest, and conflicts have been fought for control of these water routes.

In resent times, a lack of water has fueled wars and conflicts in regions of the world were the resource is very scarce. The Middle East and Africa haven been the home of wars fought for control of water sources. Militia's have been up in arms in these regions in a fight for control of water sources.

In some parts of the world, for a political entity having control of a water source or route will give them power in the region.This is more true in Africa where their has been genocide's committed over the control of resources. From tribal wars for control of water holes to major conflicts for control of shipping routes and oil.

However, the possibility that leaders will try and solve these conflicts in a diplomatic manner is only possible if this were fantasyland. Despite technology that has allowed the world to become a more open community, the idea of diplomacy to avoid conflict is completely frivolous.

Civilization for the last two centuries have attempted working together to avoid war but have failed miserably. The Congress of Vienna, the Olympic Games, the League of Nations, and the United Nations had all tried to preserve peace in the world while opening dialogue between two states but have all failed.

Despite the need of human goodness, there are always other forces influencing the decision of leaders. This could be personal, monetary or political gain, benefits for interest groups, a nationalistic pride, or the desire to settle an old feud.

History always seems to repeat itself. Wars have been fought for resources in the past, these war are continuing today and will be as such in the future. Regardless of our understanding of human history, that will do very little to stop war. Yet we can have the ability to stop the aggression before it escalates.

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