The last major war was WWII and no war since is comparable in terms of loss of life, cost adjusted to inflation or number of men at arms.

Stability as absence of conflict is a utopian measure. Stability as the truncation, resolution and containment of confict is a realistic measure attribuatable largely to the United States. Recent events and the US economic situation suggest the US cannot continue to play the same constructive role, and as such I fear greater instability is a certainty.