Doug Henwood:
> Dunno about that. Part of the U.S. international strategy has been a
> willingness to use extravagant levels of force to make a point -
> closely related to Henry Kissinger's "madman in the White House"
> negotiation strategy. Why not use the same strategy at home?
I thought the "madman in the White House" thing was targeted against supposedly rational regimes in a game-theoretical manner; that is, one tries to hinder one's adversaries' strategic calculations by introducing the possibility that one's own behavior may be or become irrational. This sort of thing wouldn't apply to gangs in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sudan, Afghanistan, etc. etc. I haven't figured out the deal in Yugoslavia -- why not just recolonize it in once piece, instead of breaking it up? -- but the other stuff seems like play or show, icing on the cake. It may be thought that, like the death penalty, the folk enjoy it. I think the ruling class could get by without either, however -- different sorts of shows could be arranged. Does not the the _New_York_ _Times_ look askance?