I think you are right... real war is conducted by nukes.
maximal intensity warfare.
the problem is that it's really total war...
there is fundamentally nothing to win.
my previous remark where more oriented toward conquest, annexation or neutralization...
the example I would take :
what's the point of nuking cuba to below sea level?
okay, it's victory, they are defeated...
but it's a little bit heavy handed... or what I mean it would be cooler to have a wider array of choice so that dondon can build a new hotel after the war...
or to resaid, it's cool that russia has a little expeditionnary force, like the one trained in syria, or those who fought in tchechenya... again, nuke warfare, what the point...
real war is milisecond war... or below... there are just a few critical moment : launch, pass the abms... and it's over. what is left of dallas or or Shenzen after a 60 10mt strike? or even kartz mountain? I don't know but if you can "energize" 100m per 10mt strike... you reach the magma fast even in colarado... And personnally I don't want to know how it feel to be underground exactly above the 10th 10mt strike...
that' s a little the counter argument, because I don't think in your vision it was about total war, but more a kind low intensity war, or skirmishes...
planetary unification ideology is a conspiracy of hostile aliens or stupid humans... it's not possible... babel.
hostile aliens? u dont think aliens have already unified earths governments and militaries? we have a secret space fleet and break away civilization just remember that