No disease man can ever spread will be as deadly as war. In the 21st century, an age in which even the most destitute on the planet can be given access to our finest technologies, medicine, food and more, war and mass killings persist because of petty issues, territorial disputes, religious objections and power-mad tyrants.

War is not a new human invention. It is a cancer as old as time itself. Ever since man first learned of the power and reward of violence, he has wielded it against others. Ever since man first learned of fire, of tools, of weapons forged from stone and iron he has used them not only to hunt and survive but to conquer and destroy. War has never been about necessity, it is born out of man’s desire for power, territory and dominance. It is a curse that has followed humanity throughout every age, and despite the different weapons and strategies that have evolved over thousands of years, the basic justifications for war have remained the same.

Good and evil are terms that we ascribe to winners and losers. Sometimes good men are instigated into battle and fight and risk their lives for good reason. In 1775, after years of oppressive British rule that, at its tipping point, became violent, a bloody American Revolution began that claimed the lives of 25,000 colonists — around 1% of the colonial population — and 24,000 British troops. Should the self-governing 13 colonies have just sat on their hands and allowed themselves to be beaten and repressed?

But is the distinction between good and evil always as clean?

Much of the time, unfortunately, it is. History shows us that most wars are instigated by malevolent leaders who desire more power, territory or the spread of their ideals. World War II was instigated by German leadership that sought a “greater Germany” and the domination of Europe. The Napoleonic Wars saw French leader Napoleon Bonaparte attempting to expand the French Empire across Europe and beyond — killing anyone in his path. The Mongol invasions of the 13th century, led by Genghis Khan and his successors, were fueled by a desire for power, wealth and territory, killing up to 60 million people — or 10% of the global population at the time. The Spanish conquest of the Americas in the 16th century saw Spanish conquistadors, driven by a lust for gold, resources and land, wage bloody campaigns against the indigenous populations of South America, decimating the Aztecs and the Incas. In the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, which began in 2014 because of what many believe was President Vladimir Putin’s ambition for Russian supremacy, hundreds of thousands have been killed. More recently, in the Israel and Hamas war, Hamas unjustly and without instigation invaded Israel and killed over 1,000 Jews and took over 200 hostages, causing Israel to attack Hamas’s military infrastructure — infrastructure that Hamas guards with human shields — to the tune of nearly 45,000 deaths and counting.

Today, supplies of food, water, medicine, infrastructure and technology can be shipped to every part of the world at a moment’s notice — and nothing is in short supply. World leaders have open lines of communication with one another. Suffering is now public, known and rarely hidden. So, it begs the question: Why does the evil of war still persist?

There will always be evil men who have a lust for power and who will sacrifice their countrymen to satiate themselves.

The reality is that today’s world has no more need for war because everyone everywhere, with cooperation, can live in relative peace and comfort with ease, something that was not possible even 50 years ago. In the near-term future, when it may even be possible to produce food for pennies on the dollar, why should people starve? When cheap, effective water filters exist that allow people to drink directly from polluted waters, why should people die from dehydration? And if we can provide the necessities of life to everyone, why should people kill one another at the direction of their government?

War always ends because one side has suffered too much. Our leaders sign treaties and make compromises with our enemies to avoid more suffering. We live in peace only because we find the horrors of war so unbearable that we are willing to lay down our arms and seek reconciliation rather than continue down a path toward our destruction. If humanity were any more ruthless we would be at constant war, but the very fact that we aren’t means that we recognize that peace is essential for our shared survival.

But war will persist whether we like it or not. There will always be those who order their innocent countrymen to lay down their lives in pursuit of their government’s lust for power, and there will always be those who must take up arms to defend themselves against those governments.

War is gross. War is ugly. War is unnecessary. But, tragically, war is inevitable.

Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.