Krauthammer Today

One of the finest articles I've read in years is highlighted in today's Townhall.

Charles Krauthammer calls it The Altar of Soft Power.

WASHINGTON -- On the day the Colombian military freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other long-held hostages, the Italian Parliament passed yet another resolution demanding her release. Europe had long ago adopted this French-Colombian politician as a cause celebre. France had made her an honorary citizen of Paris, passed numerous resolutions and held many vigils.

Unfortunately, karma does not easily cross the Atlantic. Betancourt languished for six years in cruel captivity until freed by a brilliant operation conducted by the Colombian military, intelligence agencies and special forces -- an operation so well executed that the captors were overpowered without a shot being fired.

This in foreign policy establishment circles is called "hard power." In the Bush years, hard power is terribly out of fashion, seen as a mere obsession of cowboys and neocons. Both in Europe and America, the sophisticates worship at the altar of "soft power" -- the use of diplomatic and moral resources to achieve one's ends.

Read the entire article.

Everyone wants to use diplomacy if it is legitimately viable. However, diplomacy as the only tool with which to fight tyranny and evil is a loser.

Diplomacy assumes that all parties are rational. It assumes that the people that negotiate will do so in good faith. It assumes that extended yapping isn't the goal of the negotiation. It also assumes that the negotiators consider what is best for those on whose behalf they negotiate.

Embracing diplomacy-only strategies is a toothless way to confront evil.

Krauthammer hits this one right out of the ballpark. Was Todd Jones pitching?