Wars in Strangereal: asteroid impact causes many countries to be short on resources. Affected blame the incompetence on the nations of Usea who tried to stop it. Wars break-out as a result. Wars only last for a few years and are fought in cool aircraft.
Wars in the real world: Central banksters that shouldn't even exist need to constantly fund endless wars. Everyone fights in dirty trenches.
Ace Combat is the only military video game series I can enjoy without hating myself because being set in on a completely fictional world means that it's not pro-military propaganda. Too bad, most of the games are exclusive to Sony consoles.