| But I do not tbink it will be an effective deterrent, and I also think it will buy us more trouble in the long run. The Soviet analogy is bogus. There it was tit for tat, you blow up our city, we blow up yours. You are proposing: you blow up our city, we blow up the city of bystanders, assuming that you care about it, or that there is some kind of tie among some of their elite to your activities. That is not credible, or, if it is, only on the assumption that we are the Great Satan. If it is not credible, it fails to deter. If it is credible, it is only because we are regarded as out of control, and willing to inflict indiscriminate destruction in pursuit of security. This makes us the most dangerous military power on the face of the earth, and wins us almost universal hostility. I could easily believe that we would become the subject of sanctions until we renounced such a policy. Who will we blow up if no one will trade with us? |
