71 Cities over the world

Submitted by andrea (South Korea), Feb 23, 2012 at 00:39

It is a known fact for centuries that in order to achieve peace and order in a region, the lesser entities must fear or at least have a really healthy respect for the regime that is in control. "Whoever wants peace, prepare then for war" has been my mantra for decades. While Israel had the military upper hand and the world had the impression that she could surmount any attack magically, there was a deterrence. The Lebanon war undermined that badly and now another is imminent.

When GW Bush was the crazy cowboy President who was known to shoot from the hip, not follow protocol and defend what he thought needed to be defended, the US ironically had more power because it was not only their military power but their deterrence power. Once appeasement enters the dialogue, and the US starts talking to the arabs like they are children who need to just make up and play nice, that is when the valuable force of deterrence is lost and thus endangers the US and the western world more than ever.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".