Same as the old boss

[cyrano]

Have you signed the recall petition yet? Act now because time's running out.
First day at the new/old job; two days a week.

Another thing that's been bugging me. If G-Bu supports pre-emptive strikes to protect national security (Israel and the US are two that come to mind) How would he feel about Kim Jong Il exploding a nuclear device in Chicago to dissuade the US from its hostile overtures toward his nation? That's probably completely different.

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

So pre-emptive strikes are best against forces that can't fight back.
This is an unstated tenet of our foreign policy....

(Also, he wouldn't have to deliver the bomb by aeroplane. He could bring it over in a briefcase or a crate of lettuce. And yes, I should have chosen a more appropriate target. I address that in my next comment.)

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

He could bring it over in a briefcase or a crate of lettuce.

Small nuclear weapons are much more technically sophisticated than large ones. I doubt a country who gets off by boasting they simply have a nuclear arsenal has the capability of making small ones. Plus, I don't think North Korea exports much of anything (save refugees) anywhere these days and certainly not to the United States.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Okay, let's pretend that my point is not the feasibility or advisability of such an action.
Let's pretend that my point is that the Presumptive Strike Doctrine that our President has advised as a wise course of defense is in fact is a dangerous and insecure plan when anybody besides us decides to use it. Which, now that we've endorsed it, is increasingly likely.
This is me being sore and cranky and hoping I've failed to be clear enough and that's why you haven't understood me rather than a plan of deliberate obtuseness.

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

[Omit truly snarky and cutting remark in the interests of polite civility.]

But, I don't think the United States endorsing a course of action will automatically cause it to be fashionable in the realm of foreign policy. As a hyperpower, the United States has a unique position in the world right now. Other countries could follow our example, but it would be gravely dangerous for them. For example, I doubt South Korea will be invading the North anytime soon because the risks are enormous. They could easily piss off the Chinese with such a manuever.

Yes, Israel did attack Syria, but Israel has a history of attacking its neighbors like this (think Lebanon within that last couple years as an example). If anything, the United States is following Israel's example of how to fight terrorism, not the other way around.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Well said. This should probably make me feel more comfortable, and I suspect in time it will. A world full of people not attacking each other would be a good thing.