The Decline and Fall of American Deterrence

A few days ago, America experienced the 72nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  At the end of September, the world observed the 75th anniversary of the Munich Agreement, whereby Britain and France surrendered Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Hitler's Germany.  Nazi Germany annexed most of the rest of Czechoslovakia within months, and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, thus beginning the Second World War. What do Pearl Harbor, the Munich Pact, and Germany's invasion of Poland have in common?  The common thread running through these events is that western democracies' military weakness tempted aggressors to strike. Add to this the fecklessness of western leaders, who did nothing when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, Germany annexed Austria, and Japan invaded China and murdered thousands of civilians, and one sees how toxic the witches' brew was. If that's true, then why are we doing it again? Most western democracies spend a pittance on their...(Read Full Article)