re Absolute Conscription - Everybody in, no exceptions, and only capacity to serve to decide exemptions. Righton ddr and Troll. Been a reservist myself and found the experience great and character forming - just lucky I suppose that nobody actually shot at me - but to be effective, universal conscription should not only be applied to the US - or UK, or NATO , or Indonesia, or even NZ or China, or Monaco.... but everbody.

AND the UN or another really independent international control body with humanitarian moral values as the only criteria should have over-riding authority to confirm pragmatic alliances to restrain belligerents.

Benefits ? Employment up all round the world, industry producing, profits for shareholders, and a good chance that if anybody actually tried to use it's military outside it's own borders, all it's neighbours would be down on it like a ton of those rectangular objects. Oh, and attempts to use military force internally to suppress political opposition likely to incur serious sanctions of the armour-plated type from the controlling body.

With a potential fighting man-sorry-personpower capacity available to every state, and countered by a massively greater potential all around it, most states would think twice before launching any kind of strike on any other.... Which leaves us with the non-states.... Which leaves us where we are now.... Forget I spoke.