[Suhiir]

It's a multifaceted problem these days.

With the global internet most of us, heck look at these forums, have far more contact with people outside our own nation/ethnic group then they had in the past, we KNOW the "common man" isn't all that different anyplace in the world. So it's harder to see people as "inhuman foes" as they were often portrayed in the past.

Also we actually do have a pretty much of global economy, so national leaders have to carefully weigh the cost of a war vs the benefits.

With the "War on Terror" we have a "worthy foe", but unlike the past we can't attack their nation/infrastructure because they don't have one.