On: Israel and Iran trade strikes: what does this mean for peace deal? - The Latest

The news of these strikes, and the immediate talk of a ceasefire, is a perfect demonstration of the education of princes. These men are taught from boyhood that territory is a game-board, that populations are pieces, and that a strategic retreat is the same as wisdom. They are rewarded for posturing and punished for patience. And now, when the posturing brings the predictable ruin, they are praised for their restraint in ceasing to set the fire they themselves lit.

What curriculum produces such a statesman? One that severs reason from consequence. To speak of a ‘peace deal’ after such an exchange is to decorate the chain. The structure remains. They educate their young men to see violence as the first language of power, and then express solemn hope that the next conversation will be peaceful. The anger I feel is not at the violence alone - though it is a horror - but at the manufactured ignorance that calls this statecraft. They have locked the door to reason, and now congratulate themselves for not turning the key a second time.

The logical fork is clear: either these leaders possess the capacity for reason, in which case their actions are a deliberate choice to cultivate destruction, or they have been so thoroughly miseducated for their roles that they cannot be trusted with the power they hold. In both cases, the system that placed them there is the author of the crisis. To call for peace without dismantling that curriculum is to ask the fire to put itself out.