Speak softly and carry a big stick

A prudent fear of the unpredictability of war has been the touchstone of thinkers of the realist school, from Ancient Greece through China, India and Renaissance Florence to the present day

Patrick Porter

IN A WORLD WHERE NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION IS possible, how much should we fear the danger of war escalating? The question has resurfaced with the conflict in Ukraine. It last seriously arose for the West during the Korean War of 1950-53 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In Korea, Cuba and now Ukraine, a breed of “maximalist” war hawks offer the same answer: “not much”. Indeed, they argue our anxiety is the problem. They lambast the policy of blunting Russian aggression while taking steps to avoid going to the brink. They accuse doubters of being feckless appeasers, branding policies short of maximalism as cowardly, irrational surrender to Russian coercion. It is folly, they say, to moderate Western efforts against Moscow, since we are already “at war” with Russia. To take Vladimir…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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