We are not done with war yet. World's pacifists can sit aside and think of new ways to uproot the social or political causes of conflict or wait for the next turning point in history to proclaim the end of war and be once again disappointed. In the meantime, as war remains relevant, Richard Shultz and Andrea Dew attempt to shed some light on the "something new, something old" nature of contemporary warfare that seems to puzzle many state officials and academics, even more so since a glaring example of it (Iraq) is bogging down the world's superpower.

“War is the father of all and king of all” (Kirk, 1954, p. 245) is what Heraclitus claimed and even if it might be quite exaggerating, it is not far from reality. War has always been central in shaping human affairs and it constitutes one of the most ancient forms of politics, since it has been used since time immemorial by human beings trying to impose their will on other neighbouring entities. War has largely contributed towards changing the form, structure and composition of both the entities launching it and those on which it was being imposed, while it was a result of war that modern states have been born and developed.

Osama is dead. Seemingly, there couldn’t be a worst time for alQaeda. The death of a leader in the midst of confusing and challenging developments is never good news for a militant “vanguard” organization like Al Qaeda, who together with the Salafi-jihadi current in general, found themselves up against the wall by the untimely winds of the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, by one of those twists of history, the death of Osama may turn into a very timely development for the survival of “Jihad

Authors: Evangelos Diamantopoulos, Costas Faropoulos, Iris Pappa, Charitini Petrodaskalaki, Aliki Sofianou