A day after the failed North Korean missile launch, Iran sat down in Istanbul with Western representatives to discuss yet again the Iranian nuclear program. This confab is merely the latest in a series of “conferences,” tendered bribes, and solicitous “outreaches” that have done nothing to stop the mullahs from progressing ever closer to nuclear weapons capability. Indeed, the American and European representatives have frankly admitted that the current discussion is aimed at having another discussion later. Worse yet, our side apparently has set its demands pretty low, as the Wall Street Journal reports: “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said this week that Iran wouldn’t abandon or freeze its uranium-enrichment program, a key demand of the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council. But the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, suggested Iran might be willing to cap its production of uranium enriched to 20% purity, near weapons-grade, in exchange for economic assistance from the West.” The 20% cap is an Obama administration demand, and by accepting this concession Iran could spin out negotiations even further, or agree to a deal that allows the West to save face with an “agreement” while buying the Iranians more time. But as John Bolton tirelessly keeps reminding us, leaving Iran in control of the knowledge and facilities needed to create nuclear weapons, while letting them continue to enrich uranium even to 20%, merely postpones the ultimate reckoning. As with North Korea, such a deal, even it Iran conceded to inspections, would gain the regime economic relief from the sanctions and provide it more time to secretly work on enrichment.
Both North Korea and Iran have been taught by the West that our threats, exception-riddled sanctions, and U.N bluster are all pretexts for an unwillingness to use force, which both regimes interpret as weakness. Iran has held our citizens hostage, and received ransom to let them go; sheltered, trained, and supported terrorists who have murdered our troops and citizens for over 30 years; and continually worked against our interests and security and those of our allies, all without any significant punishment. Instead, Iran has been solicited with diplomatic “outreach,” material bribes, and invitations to join the “international community” it patently despises. As for North Korea, as Tufts professor Sung-Yoo Lee writes, “Except for the invasion of the South in 1950, North Korea has never suffered a lasting or devastating penalty for its many attacks and provocations. On the contrary, it has often been rewarded for false pledges” with “food, fuel and cash from North Korea’s risk-averse adversaries.” To both regimes, the West has become an object of contempt, “a frightened, flabby old woman, who at the worst would only bluster” and is “incapable of making war.”
For all the differences between now and the Thirties, then, the lesson remains the same, because human nature is the same, the simple fact forgotten by those who disdain historical analogies. But whatever the differences, they don’t change human nature. As Thucydides wrote about the devastating revolutions of the Peloponnesian War, “The sufferings which revolution entailed upon the cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and always will occur as long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a severer or milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the variety of the particular cases.” In other words, the differences of “particular cases” ultimately don’t negate the reality of an unchanging human nature and its predictable behavior: Appease a bully and he’ll go on bullying; pay ransom to kidnappers and you’ll get more kidnapping; show weakness and you’ll invite aggression; make empty threats and you’ll earn contempt. It takes arrogant modern Westerners to think that their utopian fantasies of a world in which talk can trump force exempt them from those eternal truths evident on every page of history.
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The bottom line: These regimes routinely violate the agreements they sign. Ergo, negotiating agreements with them is pointless. You'd think by now our policy-makers would've caught on.
They are negotiating for its own sake. It's more like a hobby with them.
In a perfect world the West would recognise the writing on the wall and then act decisively , unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world …the West that we live in is languid , decadent and indecisive and so we can expect these events to take their natural course which will , sooner or later , end in disaster
None of us wants a conflict of force. But to "postpone" it only makes the inevitable confrontation that much more bloody. I don't understand why we'd bother speaking another sentence to regimes that have lied and avowed to be our enemy. I don't understand how we can believe in any "negotiated" settlement with them since they've reneged in the past. Time for talk is over. Turn their roads, bridges, airfields, granaries, power plants, etc., into glass and they'll spend more time looking for their next meal rather than wanting to rule the world. Cost a few lives now to prevent the loss of millions later.
The UK was so numbed after WW1 that the last thing they wanted was another war, which is why they tried appeasement. Why it is always down to the UK and the USA to sort rogue states out really annoys me as we get blamed for being the worlds police but also not being the worlds police. Why don't other countries instigate anything?
The reality is that to win a war you have to flatten the opposition as quickly as possible. In todays world this would be completely unacceptable for a 'civilised' 'caring' country to do. This is why wars today go on and on as we can't use 'disproportionate' force. Moreover, our PR image is so bad that we would incur the wrath of our own people as well as all the other countries who hate us anyway. I just wish other countries would take responsibility for being police for a change.
The United States and other democracies have to deal with tyrannical regimes that are both suicidal and genocidal. They are suicidal because of their willingness to sacrifice as many of their own citizens as they believe necessary to annihilate preceived enemies; they are genocidal for the same reason. Regime change in iran and north korea must occur and the West should be working diligently for this to occur. Simultaneously, we should be pursuing the disintegration of iran, syria, iraq, and turkey. These are all fake states that oppress religious and ethnic minorities that should be allowed to carve out their own sovereign enclaves. The end of the current regimes in these countries would not be lamented.
Good old USA has been played for a pansy by North Korea for decades, with their nuclear threat….
And on account of it, it has kept on providing free food and fuel, like the merchant who pays Mafia
goons for "protection"….
TRUMAN's mistake was to remove MCARTHUR when he proposed bombing Manchuria to stop
the influx of Chinese "VOLONTEERS" in the Korean war, as it would have stopped Chinese cold..
But this is the way history is written….
If FRANCE would have sent just one division into the RUHR at the time the German High
Command feared that with just their caps they would chase them away, the WWII horrors could
have been avoided…
So now, faithful to tradition, OBAMA is kissing N. Korea's "leader" s ass by offering him 240,000
metric tons of food, affraid as he is of CHINA, when the truth of the matter is that, by raising import
tariffs to Chinese products, JOBS which he keeps on claiming for would be created and stop the
dependence of CHINESE products once and for all….
Will this ever happen ?????
NO WAY, JOSE….! ! !
TUGBOATING is when a writer takes an admittedly "overused and simplistic historical analogy" and decides to defiantly do it some more. So, Ahmedinejad is this year's Hitler. Every year Israel elects a new Hitler and vilifies a new Neville Chamberlain who dismisses any attempts to dismiss their creeling for war against that Hitler. Only Zionists are allowed to call someone a Hitler and creel for his destruction. If you call an Israeli a Hitler, the excrement hits the shofar. This is a feature of the post-Zionist Era; that they have no new methods. They have just the old boomerang fish routine. They just roll out the tired old Nuremberg Rally photos and slowly morph this week's Hate-Week face into Emmanuel Goldstein.
You really are pathetic, you know? The analogy wasn't who's this years "hitler" – it was about appeasment, both then and now. All the other commentors on this article have valid points regarding appeasement – with the exception of you. Not only do you not understand what the article was about, probably because you skimmed through it too fast to actually read it, in your zeal to get down to the comments and post more of your usual drivel, but you also have to throw in your "evil joooos!!" crap. It would appear that it's your brain that works in "schlomotion", and cant' keep up with what an article is actually talking about. It's sad, really. You do have some intelligence, though no where near what you think you do, based on what and how you write and reply to people, but you put whatever small semblance of knowledge and intellect you have into sophomoric b.s. I'm guessing you're a twenty-something or early thirties. You certainly have a lot of growing up to do. selah.
I am not into appeasement. I have never argued for appeasing Muslims, and I have frequently spoken against AIPAC's desire to be appeased. I understood the article perfectly well. I am saying that the Hitler comparison is a dead horse.
It seems that Schlockmotion hasn't read a history book. Neville Chamberlain thought he could avoid war by striking a deal with Adolf Hitler. So,he flew to Munich and sacrificed Czechoslovakia for "peace in our time." In 1939,he got war. Sadly,President Obama hasn't learned those lessons and is using the Neville Chamberlain playbook. Also,what Schlobrain doesn't get is that the Israelis aren't going to wait too much longer for the mad mullahs in Iran to start a second holocaust. But,maybe that's what Schlomotion wants,another Holocaust and more dead Jews.
I read a-plenty. I am apathetic toward hearing Zionists talk about the Second Holocaust. They are a bunch of boys calling wolf.
No,Schlomotion. Your posts have revealed a constant,almost Nazi-like hatred for Jews. You're not fooling anyone here.
Zionism is going to have to embrace more criticism. If it does not, it will simply be written off as one of the bad political philosophies along with Nazism, Soc.ialism, Manifest Destiny, and Dianetics.
The Obama Administration is the most incompetent in the history of our Republic. He is incompetent at everything we need competence for in these times. The only ray of competence he has shown thus far is his tenacity to hold on to the broken headed socialist stupidities of the Marxist 1800s. he tends to appear modern by salting Marxism with current Green scientific errors and Obamacare socialism. Of course the epitome of modern Marxism, or so I have heard, is the issue is never the issue, the issue is always the revolution and the revolution is about power.
The definition of our Republic is its Constitution; all other definitions are wrong or incomplete!
Marvin E. Fox
Obama will pay what is better understood as protection money, just like what the mob forces merchants
to pay in order not to be troubled by destructive interference. Mug money to most of us that have lived
in Cities with criminal culture. Saying pretty please, Obama talking witht the thugocracies of the day
which was and is a crock never gets the job done of clearing the air. First you beat down the criminals
and then incarcerate while trying if at all possible to rehabilitate or in the last worst result eradicate.
North Korea is a giant jail holding in the oppressed by their jailors with the aid of outside enablers.
The MSM makes the new leader UN-cool and his regeme more than it is or ever will be, they can be
turned to dust easily but the price in human suffering amongst the slave nation is a barrier to their
freedom…………………………………………….William
North Korea's leaders are committed to playing a major role in attempting to destroy Israel. It is an issue that obsesses them. Way back in 1973 North Korea sent its planes and pilots to fight Israel. http://www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/NorthKorea.html