Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

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Tonight on nightwaves, it's ten years since George W. Bush stood proudly on the deck of an American aircraft carrier under a banner which declared of the Iraq War, mission accomplished.

That statement proved at the very least premature in the intervening years the way we make war has changed from the war on terror with its shifting fronts to new controversy about the use of armed drones to target enemies.

From mischief making to new methods of waging war are we now in an era of untested moral dilemma about the nature of modern conflict.

Tonight I'll be exploring that with guests whose backgrounds range from the military to politics,

philosophy and international relations. They are Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British

troops in Afghanistan and ex-chairman of the Cobra Security Committee. Christopher Koker,

who's the author of several books on the present and future of warfare.

The political commentator Douglas Murray, Adriana Sinclair, lecturer in international relations at the University of East Anglia,

and David Rodin from the Oxford Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict.

Adriana and David, I'm going to come to you first, if I may.

The 20th century, Adirana, was a century dominated by warfare and its aftermath.

How does that differ from what we're facing now?

Well, war is constantly changing and we're always subject to the perception that we're on the cusp of a radically

different way of fighting and dying. Prior to the 19th century, we lived in a world where warfare

was generally the preserve of kings and nobles and their armies would meet in prearranged locations

to fight one another. But as warfare became more expensive and societies became more democratic, leaders needed public support for warfare.

The rise of nationalism also pushed us towards public participation in warfare, even if only indirectly through taxation.

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