It has certainly been a long time since any major war, of the WW I or II scale. Jared Diamond states also in "The World Before Yesterday" that modern "civilization" wars kill a lower percentage of people than tribal wars. I believe that "the rise of nations" is giving way to "the rise of regionalism" (where nations get together to form regional alliances, ie NATO, Russia-China, SEATO, etc). In turn, each has access to nuclear weapons, which the competing alliances are reluctant to use for fear of mutual destruction. The result is a kind of economic warfare and a lot of posturing. What seems to be emerging from all this is "missile and drone wars" (almost better at destroying infrastructure and urban centers than opposing soldiers)...could Terminator 3 be upon us?