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Notes -
War and violent conflict in general has this nasty property that not only it can happen with only very few wanting it, it can even happen when nobody wants it, but enough feel sufficiently threatened.
Also, a quick check of history shows that indeed a suspiciously large number of first strikers likes to claim that no, they totally didn't want to do this, the other side just forced their hand. Maybe they're right, maybe they're lying, maybe they're wrong on the "forced" part but were right that the other side really was looking to do the same or some other possibility.
Either way, the situation can deteriorate in some bad ways that don't translate neatly to "people just wanted it to happen". That said, I think that as long as most people get to live a broadly comfortable & safe life, nothing much will happen.
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