How do you want to prevent something that is ultimately not in your domain of decision. Most wars are started by autocrats under the belief that they can gain something from them. Those beliefs are often false or at least unfounded, but how do you want to change them from the outside? It is no more realistic than changing someone's religion by persuasion - possible, but rare.

"Knocking people's heads together" doesn't work on people who have the entire military force of their country at their disposal. Such heads are basically un-knockable. Unfortunately one of the things that the state as an institution is really good at is projection of force; and outside democracies which divide power in a state deliberately, that force usually answers to a single person and their whim, or, at best, a small inner circle of people.

And frankly, I trust scientists even less when it comes to politics that anyone else. Khmer Rouge was an academic enterprise. There isn't really a reason why an educated person should have any better sense of morality than a random farmer from the bush. When I look at the activity of the IT giants, it is 50 shades of moral grey underlined by stuffing their pockets and trying to project a cool vibe. It seems to contradict your idea of superior morality in the IT circles.