Since the attack on the United States on September 11 2001 and the US retaliation in Afghanistan and Iraq there must be few people who have not felt a twinge of nostalgia for the cold war.
Retaliation is related to nature and instinct not to law. Law by definition cannot obey the same rules as nature.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Without forgiveness life is governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.
Which is I'm an optimist that two people can be together to work out their conflicts. And that commitment I think might be what love is because they both grow from their relationship.