The political context within which a war is nested is literally the source of any and every conflic

“The political context within which a war is nested is literally the source of any and every conflict.”

Gray, Colin S. Fighting Talk: Forty Maxims on War, Peace, and Strategy. Pbk. ed, Potomac Books, 2009, p. 21.

Here, I have to differ with Mr. Gray. His assertion is far too Clauswitzian (“The political object—the original motive for the war”). I argue that the spiritual context is (not only the most ignored in contemporary conflict) but the primary context we need to understand all conflict in relation to. This is unless we understand politics as the physical side of government which is itself steered by powers and principalities. In fact, the emphasis of the political aspect of war may simply be the secular and naturalistic understanding of true causes.