Sunday, January 12, 2003

Lessons of Munich: Appeasement does not work
"When a nation announces that it now feels free to act with force against perceived threats rather than waiting for actual attacks, we should pay attention. We should understand that the leader of the nation is now willing to bomb cities and deploy armies whenever and wherever he feels threatened. When the leader says he would not need "absolute proof" of the perceived threats, we should pay attention. We should not pretend that things are still the same when they are not still the same. We should not forget the lesson of Munich. When a regime says it no longer rules out first strikes with nuclear weapons, we should do whatever we can to urge our allies to work against such a regime. The more powerful a nation is, the larger its armies, the greater the need for noise rather than silence, for remembering rather than forgetting, for courage rather than cowardice."

Countries such as Australia which are prepared to go along with the pre-emptive aggression of the United States are performing a great disservice. The courage to oppose needs to be found.

No comments: