This is a candid and critical look at today's new wars by a provocative analyst of the old ones. Gabriel Kolko's studies of conflict have redifined the views of modern warfare; here, he turns his attention to the crisis of the early 21st century and the dark future it portends. The book insists that the roots of terrorism lie in America's cynical policies in the Middle East and Afghanistan, a half-century of realpolitik justified by crusades for oil and against communism. America, Kolko contends, reacts to the complexity of world affairs with the cudgels of technology and firepower, not with an engaged political response. He questions whether such a policy offers any hope of attaining security for the USA or indeed the world and asks whether the wars of the future will end differently from those in our past.