Peace Babble In The Peace Bubble

Rachel Reid, Human Rights Watch’s Afghanistan analyst, was quoted in the NYT (via Christopher Hitchens):

There is a real need for more pressure and open dialogue with insurgent forces for their violations of the laws of war.

Open dialogue with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

It's easy to ridicule her and others that think along those lines. Too easy. Dialogue is of course the best solution for settling problems.

The West has largely been a peace-bubble for the last decades. Wars? Not here. Robbery? Call the Police. Quarrel? Go to court. Jimmy pulled Jenny's hair? Off to the psychologist.

The largest part of Western society and certainly most of the chattering classes live in a sort of bubble, completely disconnected from the use of physical force to achieve any goals. That is first of all a most remarkable achievement. 

But the basic problem remains: there are still men who just want to see the world burn. They don't understand any other language than force..

Daniel Fallenstein is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist