text: is traditional totalitarism possible today? you know, like the glory days of alexander and atilla. they got dirty and went and killed and counquered. now its about espionage and m.a.d. we have played ourselves into a standstill.  personally, i think that war itself is not bad, just the people who use it for profit of themselves. besides, i love ender's game( just finished reading it again, so i'm all ready to talk shop over a game of risk) anyways, is it possible? or does the fact that everyone and their mama has a nuke deters it and we'll all go down if someone makes their move? totalitarianism....  actually it is defined as relating or operating a centralized government in which a single person (to address your question) rules over political, economic,social life and military control.  my opinion, no those days are go.  a leader like alexander so  even cesar had to have generals he could count on.    i believe those days are far behind us.  and as you indicate, with mad, even a person like saddam if he had nukes could not have been another attila.