In the last centuries we have witnessed in Europe the 100 years War1337-1453, and the 30 years War 1618-1648. One could also point to World War I as having begun in 1914, which continued, hot and cold, with pauses, until 1990. or beyond.World War I’s aftermath in 1919, the so-called Paris Peace Treaty, then gave rise to an ongoing regional Middle East conflict beginning in 1920 and developing into today’s global clash of Civilisations. A war, if you will, of 101 years, 1914-2015 with no end in site, a Forever War, and a much more dangerous one.

The present war is not so much one of territorial dispute, country versus country, as it is ideological – an extreme religious belief pitted against all other beliefs and non-believers, whether they be Buddhists, Jews, Christians or Atheists.

When wars are between nation states the battle lines are easily defined and the resolution more easily determined by geographical boundaries. Not so this war where there are conflicts amongst the citizens in nation states holding strongly held opposing beliefs. One only has to look at recent incidents in the US (Boston), France (Paris) and Denmark (Copenhagen) to see this.

This does not bode well for the future. Will it be necessary to fragment countries, providing for religious states or provinces within a country by religion? In some respects this is not new historically. The Inquisition forced people to flee their homelands to seek refuge elsewhere.

Could this happen again?