The Third World War

This Czechoslovak affair is peculiarly frustrating. On the one hand, it is so brutally outrageous. On the other, there seems to be nothing meaningful to do about it.

Direct military counteraction is excluded. About this there should be no confusion. It is not a question of appeasement v. firmness; it would make no difference if the shrillest imaginable hawks were running the American and NATO governments; nor does it have anything to do with Vietnam. Military counteraction is excluded by the strategic realities. NATO does not have the military means to mount a conventional military offensive into eastern Europe. Nuclear operations are effectively deterred by the Soviet Union’s strategic nuclear force. Q. E. D.

JB

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James Burnham

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This Czechoslovak affair is peculiarly frustrating. On the one hand, it is so brutally outrageous. On the other, there seems to be nothing meaningful to do about it.

Direct military counteraction is excluded. About this there should be no confusion. It is not a question of appeasement v. firmness; it would make no difference if the shrillest imaginable hawks were running the American and NATO governments; nor does it have anything to do with Vietnam. Military counteraction is excluded by the strategic realities. NATO does not have the military means to mount a conventional military offensive into eastern Europe. Nuclear operations are effectively deterred by the Soviet Union’s strategic nuclear force. Q. E. D.