That's the same with one armed conflict that bothers me much. In the 90s there it was called "blood vs oil" by one charismatic man (who also correctly predicted how it'd go further, though), and, well, then "blood" won, and "oil" looked miserable - evil, dishonorable and defeated, all at the same time. But in 10 years they figured it out completely, in 20 years applied that power in every area they needed (mostly not military), in 25 had a big military victory, and now the situation really sucks from the looks of it.