Risky business

Fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues despite a ceasefire being agreed.

"What a shame that ceasefires don't work" said a UN spokesperson over breakfast to his dog as he tucked into a second bowl of .... "Yes, in an ideal world all ceasefires would work and the fighting would stop immmediately. To which his dog replied: "Or better still, in an ideal world there'd be no fighting at all".

"You're so naive" said the spokesperson, "but then again, you are just a dog."

Imagine a world where dogs could talk. Or one where people didn't fight all the time. Which is more improbable? Here's a scenario:

Hello old sport what are you up to?

I'm just planning a war.

Oh yes?

Yes, I'm going to attack a small foreign country and bomb the hell out of it and plunder it for oil and rape the women and cut off the water supplies and generally cause an awful bloody great inconvenience to millions of innocent people.

Are you serious?

You bet I am.

Fantastic, but wait, what if they ask you to stop?

What?

A ceasefire?

Oh, bugger I didn't think of that.

How about a game of risk instead?

Good idea.