[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
Has it occured to anyone here that this is ‘hard diplomacy’ in action? This is a tried-and-true method of ratcheting up pressure on a country to get them to take you seriously. Get someone who can speak authoritatively, yet outside the actual chain of command, to make threatening comments in order to make the other side understand you mean business without actually committing yourself to any particular course of action.
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They already know we mean them harm, and will attack them any time.
[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
Sometimes the best way to avoid war is to make the other side believe that you’re willing to go to war if they won’t correct an intolerable situation.
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We’ve already made it clear in Iraq that we’ll go to war when we feel like it, regardless of what actions you take. We’ve made it clear that negotiation and comprimise, even outright caving in do not work with America. They’d be fools to give up whatever nuclear program they have.
[QUOTE=Sam Stone]
Has it occured to anyone here that this is ‘hard diplomacy’ in action? This is a tried-and-true method of ratcheting up pressure on a country to get them to take you seriously. Get someone who can speak authoritatively, yet outside the actual chain of command, to make threatening comments in order to make the other side understand you mean business without actually committing yourself to any particular course of action.
Sometimes the best way to avoid war is to make the other side believe that you’re willing to go to war if they won’t correct an intolerable situation.
April Glaspie has taken heat on this board for NOT telling Saddam that the U.S. was willing to go to war against him if he invaded Kuwait.
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Glaspie was official, if you remember. We got into trouble in Korea the same way, also official.
I agree that saber rattling sometimes has benefits. I thought that the presence of troops in Kuwait no doubt encourage Saddam to allow inspectors into places they weren’t allowed before, and that this was excellent strategy. What wasn’t excellent was the assholes invading while diplomacy was working. Thus, we have evidence that your optimistic reading of the situation isn’t correct.
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
They already know we mean them harm, and will attack them any time.
We’ve already made it clear in Iraq that we’ll go to war when we feel like it, regardless of what actions you take. We’ve made it clear that negotiation and comprimise, even outright caving in do not work with America. They’d be fools to give up whatever nuclear program they have.
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They’ve also got the example of Pakistan. Military dictatorship, dangerous extremist factions, definitely harboring terrorists – and armed with nuclear weapons, which they’ve threatened to use against their neighbor, the world’s largest democracy. Somehow, we’re told, Pakistan is a strong ally in the War Against Terror. Not a nasty old part of the Axis of Evil, like Iran.