...Those Europeans and others who wanted to avoid a war [in Iraq] would agree to be strong and consistent in pressuring Saddam Hussein to keep his commitments. Iraq could have been successfully deterred and lots of problems and suffering avoided.
That basic idea is still a sound one. The Roman author Vegetius wrote wisely, "Let him who desires peace, prepare for war." This meant that being strong and being viewed as determined was a tremendous deterrence to prevent others from attacking you.
That concept is apparently forgotten by those in the West who believe that the best way of persuading radical movements or regimes from aggression is to prove how much it wants to avoid fighting.
Sadly, this stance is just asking for trouble. The opposite is true. "Speak softly and carry a big stick," said president Theodore Roosevelt. But one of the main requirements for that strategy's success is to let everyone know you have a big stick. Putting all your effort into proving that you are a nice guy who means nobody any harm is an excellent idea if the other party is also nice. When the competition is a bully, an ideological extremist and an aggressor such an approach is disastrous.
Yet here I want to focus on an additional, though related, point. The burden on those who want to avoid violent conflict is not just one of criticizing those who are more assertive. You have to provide an alternative way of dealing with a threat. And if your approach doesn't work, you have to be ready to face the consequences.
...Even when Western states do the right thing, those governments - and large parts of their elites - make it so clear that they really want to give in, or do nothing, that the extremists are convinced that if they only wait long enough and make big enough threats the democracies will give in.
For those who do not want a war sparked by either the radicals' aggression or their intended victims' possibly misguided defensive reactions, there is no substitute for tough diplomacy, real material sanctions or punishments, and building an image of steadfastness in order to press the extremists to change their policies and tactics.
Warfare kills, but so does appeasement and passivity.
Nailed It!
Moral Clarity BUMP !
This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.) I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention. You can see the list of articles I pinged to lately on my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about). Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.
Another two recent great articles are on the same brainwave:
They're Baaack!--Foreign policy hacks who want to bribe dictators by Frank J Gaffney Jr., and
The diplomatic fetishists by Caroline Glick