Containment, Nukes, Rationality

ARTICLE: A Lack Of Patience. Containment worked before. Why not again? By Steve Chapman Chicago Tribune, May 8, 2008.

Examples on the use of Smart Power: Excerpts:

The centerpiece of the U.S. approach to the Soviet Union was vigilant containment 

…  containment worked against Stalin and Mao—both unbalanced dictators with nuclear weapons. 

For that matter, containment had worked against Saddam Hussein. In the 12 years after the first Gulf War, we kept him in a box, where he was no threat to us or his neighbors. 

Reagan took a different approach. In response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he continued President Jimmy Carter’s covert aid to the rebels, but didn’t send American troops. 

One common trait of governments and their leaders is an overriding desire to survive. If Iranian nukes are ever used for aggression, the regime can be sure Iran will be, as Hillary Clinton so vividly put it, “obliterated.”

One member of the “axis of evil,” North Korea, has acquired a nuclear arsenal. Instead of launching a preemptive strike, the Bush administration has chosen to 1) live with it if we have to, 2) negotiate with Pyongyang to give it up, and 3) maintain strong defenses in South Korea.