"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake”-Jeanette Rankin

I agree with Jeanette Rankin’s quote. An earthquake is a natural disaster and cannot be prevented, similar to a war where there are no winners and which is as futile as fighting an earthquake. A country or town devastated by war or earthquake can be rebuilt, but an earthquake or war can never be won entirely.

Earthquakes at best can be detected prior to their first tremors, but they simply can't be won. Though one might survive an earthquake, the devastation that follows can never be avoided. Similarly, a war may end with a clear victor, but the effects of the war can never be overcome and the scars remain forever.

Historically, World War-I, II, the Korea or Vietnam wars, or the present-day Israel-Palestine conflict still have no clear victors. All of them have come at a price - to humanity, to geopolitical stability, to economic isolation, and have created mistrust and hatred that have persisted long after the wars have been over, or are still prevalent as in Israel-Palestine or North and South Korea conflicts. The Koreas remain divided to this day in mutual distrust, with families remaining separated by a fence, a line of control drawn arbitrarily between the two nations. A brother wishing to visit his sister on the other side will need to seek permission from authorities to cross a man-made boundary. World War-II had similar effects, where there were no clear victors. A nation and a major part of the world remained separated for decades much after the war was over and the economic disparity between the two sides still remain to this day, nearly six decades after the war is over. The World War-I slogan that it was a war to end all wars was proven completely false. It became the precursor to World War-II, which then led to the Cold War and other wars. The Indo-Pak or the Israel-Palestinian conflicts still continue with wars erupting at the slightest provocation. Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan are grim reminders that wars can never be won. They still persist, in one garb or the other.

However, Jeanette Rankin’s quote does not necessarily imply that fighting wars against social conditions and dogmas are futile and should not be pursued. Wagering wars against drugs, terrorism, poverty, illiteracy and other evils that still persist in the modern world are as necessary as researching and developing systems to predict earthquakes or other natural disasters well in advance so that lives can be saved and damage to property minimized. The quote does not imply that we need not do anything about wars or earthquakes since they can never be won. Instead, we need to put in place systems and checks where wars do not happen, through proper negotiations and greater understanding of each other. Similarly, earthquakes and other natural disasters need to be researched further so that they are predicted accurately and threat to life and humanity at large minimized to the largest extent possible.

To summarize, wars are never about peace, they are about conquering and control. Wars do not end wars, wars beget other wars. Bertrand Russell, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and other unsung heroes of freedom have advocated peace over the ages. We need to remember them and their beliefs that the power of peace and non-violence is greater than the power of weapons and wars. Wars can never be won, similar to earthquakes that also can never be won