All autocracies must destroy their antitheses...

A piece you should read, by VDH...

No, no, no….

The problems in Iraq, in the radical Middle East at large—with democratization, with nuclearization, with Islamism—are not, repeat not, a lack of dialogue with Syria and Iran.

We know what both rogue states wish and it is our exit from the Middle East and thus a free hand to undermine the newly established democracies of Lebanon and Iraq—in the manner that all autocracies must destroy their antitheses.

They both sponsor and harbor terrorists for a reason—to undermine anything Western: a Western-leaning Lebanese democracy, a Western-style democracy in Iraq, a Westernized Israel, or soldiers of the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Syria, as we see once again with the killing of Pierre Gemayel, is practicing serial murdering in Lebanon. I was on the Hugh Hewitt show last night, and he was right to make the point that Syria is like the Nazi regime of the late 1930s that sent its agents into Eastern Europe and Austria to assassinate and undermine republican leaders, to pave the way for the ‘necessary’ and ‘welcome’ entrance of the order-bringing Wehrmacht into a ‘brother’ state....

The time for "dialoging" with murderous tyrants—if there is such a time—is not when we are having trouble, but when we have hurt them badly enough that they are looking for a way out of trouble. That should be obvious.

I hope that's what our government is thinking right now. Our passivity is not a good sign. It's going to cause a lot more trouble in the long run. Pacifism causes wars. It's as simple as that.

...And for all the conundrum, the war against the jihadists is still going well. Iran and Syria are striking out because they feel surrounded—democratic Turkey on one side, Israel on the other, with nearby democracies struggling to become established in Kurdistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is being dismantled, and a Europe galvanizing against Islamic fascism. Even the impotent UN is beginning to stir against Iran and Syria. If we can stabilize Afghanistan and Iraq, we can bring enormous pressure on both these two rogue nations. So why give up now—which is what talking to these amoral governments constitutes, given our previous rhetoric and vow to quit the appeasement?...

I think VDH is a bit over-optimistic about Europe and the UN, but this is still the simple truth. We have put ourselves in a strong position, and our job now is to exploit it. The only problem is that a lot of Americans don't want to accept the ugly fact that a war means fighting.

Pacifism causes wars. Voting Democrat causes wars. Future wars. Weakness now will mean a bigger price to pay in the future. I'm not being a warmonger here, I'm a peace-monger. Nancy Pelosi is the warmonger.