Carry a Big Stick

Fire of Liberty

Here's an excellent commentary by Michael Rubin, AEI resident scholar, in the UK's Guardian on how being timid in the face of a challenge like the mullahs of Iran or the various dust-ups between the British soldiers and residents of southern Iraq, is not the best policy for success. As Rubin suggests, the threat our use of military force against such entities is sometimes a must when your trying to hammer out a solution. As long as you play the grandmotherly role of cuddling and loving the groups your dealing with and you tend to look the other way when they do wrong, you will generally create a monster who will wreak havoc on everyone around because they have no fear of someone telling them no or issuing some kind of punishment. So check out Rubin's great piece.