War-Mongering

To start with I am a pacifist, no surprise there then? The one scenario that I doubt I would ever come to terms with was if I took someones life by a careless act of mine.
There is no justification, no provocation, no military goal, no realm that makes the taking of one, two, twenty, two hundred or two million lives excusable any more than I can make a distinction in the mode of taking a life whether by a car, knife, rope, bullet, gassing or nuclear bomb. The only pause for thought is the length and degree of distress experienced before the life taken finally expires.
Setting that aside I can still be objective, take an overview on war-mongering and be relevant. Here is the proof or lie to that!
We are now in a similar position to that that the great powers found themselves just before WWI and WWII. The mechanics of war had moved on by a considerable degree but they were still nostalgically and fatally bound to the war mechanics of their last great victory. So too now. The whole war dynamics has changed. Now nationstates are held to ransom by small highly mobile groups of people and a few readily accessible materials, providing those people have the support of their community.
Which city or field are your tanks to surround, or planes to bomb or army hoist their flag in to prove you have finally subdued that irritant rebel group that constantly depletes your artifacts of war. You might sweep in, replace one governance with your own style but the peoples mind you want to control remain, despite your worst, their minds that they control. In the end you have to deal with them and in doing so your own ethics become corrupted. In the global scale of things what is the point?
The bigger the ordinance, whether it is tank, bomber plane or aircraft carrier the greater the resource cost and the greater the significance in your fighting effectiveness if you lose it. So to protect your big ordinance you have to support them with a host of lesser ordinance with the sole goal of defending the big ordinance. A great lumbering war machine. Not exactly light footed, fleet of foot, bobbing ducking and weaving around those highly mobile groups of people out to scupper your every attempt.
Anything other than a national defense is political suicide. Scrap or more realistically hire out to Europe all the big ordinances, save a vast amount on your budget and replace with light, highly mobile vehicles. Train your people in the mechanics and psychology of sabotage and civic disobedience. Invest in disperse communications. But and a big but make sure your style of government is all inclusive, emphasises the united people so they never experience the need to rebel against you.