Wars of aggression and false flags

Wars of aggression are triggered by factors such as exceptionalism, greed, nationalism, unleashed capitalism, blind patriotism, the desire for dominance and collectivism. Since wars of aggression are illegal according to international law, the aggressors justify them on the grounds of protecting civilians in the target country and in terms of self-defence involving pre-emptive strikes. The self-defence pretext can be sold more easily if a false flag attack is staged to demonstrate that the target country or parties related to it initiated an attack when the attack is staged by the country planning a war of aggression. A false flag operation can be costly, both in terms of blood and treasure, but for the aggressor it is a price worth paying to achieve the ultimate objective of benefiting war profiteers.