All if the terms above have been employed, and, in many ways, Freud's understanding built out of culture, symbolism and biology rings at times with the greater resonance, bathed as it is in nihilism.

During the last century many wars were fought and each was bloody in the extreme, now we have two local conflicts that may both expand and overwhelm continents. One was started by territorial and cultural viewpoints, the other by one man (effectively) expressing unconsidered and ill-considered cultural impulses. With both Thanatos looms large, its/his smiling face casting glances over everyone and everything involved.