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A Disquieting Paradox by Rachna Bura.

The recent conflict between India & Pakistan , epitomizes this paradox. Both adversaries emerged waving the banner of victory, each side’s leadership basking in applause while the line between triumph and defeat blurred into insignificance.

Today’s wars are battles of perception, where both sides declare themselves winners. But if no one loses, perhaps the true loss is in the very meaning of victory.
The outcomes are already decided , the fillers are few combat actions duly recorded for digital evidence and we have the perfect recipe for a grand victory parade .

The masses cheered, flags fluttered and national pride soared. On one side of the border, a self-styled Field Marshal declared glory; on the other, political narratives of “a befitting response” filled the air. Yet beneath the grandstanding lay a harsher argument, If victory requires no vanquished, what then defines winning?

How can a conflict between two nations be a win win game which undoubtedly must be a zero sum game ?

Psychological Construct of Self-Supporting Victories

The human mind abhors uncertainty. To sustain belief and morale, it manufactures closure, even if artificial. Today’s conflicts thus thrive on cognitive self-affirmation, the creation of self-serving narratives that validate one’s own triumph regardless of outcome.
These are victories not on the battlefield, but in belief systems. Each side constructs its own story, reinforced by selective facts, digital theatrics and emotional nationalism. The underlying conflict remains unaddressed, festering beneath the surface. The temporary calm becomes a pause between two rounds rather than a conclusion. These self-proclaimed victories act as cognitive tranquilizers, numbing the pain of insecurity without curing its cause.
True resolution demands introspection and compromise, but illusionary triumph demands only applause. The result is a fragile peace, one that trembles under the weight of unresolved grievances and suppressed realities.

Beneficiaries of Conflict

The continuation of rivalry is more rewarding than its resolution. Thus, a self-perpetuating cycle is born where every skirmish becomes an opportunity for validation, and every illusion of victory sows the seeds of the next confrontation.
In this sense, wars today are less about defeating an enemy and more about sustaining a system. The real loser is the truth, and the people who live in its shadow.

Victory without a loser is the illusion of peace without resolution ….

The psychology of victory without loss is seductive because it spares accountability. If everyone wins, no one needs to reflect. The victors continue celebrating, the beneficiaries continue profiting and the seeds of the next confrontation are quietly sown.
Thus begins a self-supporting cycle, each war preparing the psychological groundwork for the next. The absence of defeat becomes the breeding ground for future delusion. What appears as national confidence is often collective denial, a refusal to confront the uncomfortable truth that the conflict solved nothing.

In this paradoxical era of mutual victories, the question is that for how long this illusion can sustain itself before it breeds the next war.