|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Dr. Pipes, a small correction.Reader comment on item: Op Eds Now More Central in War than Bullets Submitted by Moshe (Israel), Oct 18, 2006 at 10:45 Dr. Pipes, I must respectfully disagree with you on this subject, or at least in part. Your opening statement "Soldiers, sailors, and airmen once determined the outcome of warfare, but no longer" is simply incorrect. One of the decisive factors for successful warfare was always, and still remains, THE WILL TO FIGHT. But this is only one of them. The other and not less decisive one is THE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY POWER. You need both of them, both are indispensable for winning a war. You may have as much will to fight as you wish, lacking the required resources you will never win a war. All wars which were ever lost were lost because the loser lacked at least one of the above, or both of them. I fully agree with you that "the battlefield of the media" is a crucial one in building or destroying a country's or a society's will to fight for its survival, or for other vital interests. I also agree that the left dominated and controlled media are undermining the resilience of the western societies and sowing disaster in the field of public morale. Lots of painful sacrifices and losses could have been avoided, had we had more loyal and responsible opinion leaders. And no doubt, it will cost us even more dearly in the future. But from here, to the radical conclusion that military power is obsolete, and of no importance anymore, and all we have to do from now on is to concentrate only on PR, with all its undisputed importance,…well, I would kindly suggest you to reconsider this idea. Just for the sake of better order and of somewhat more systematic arguments.
Dislike
Submitting....
Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". Daniel Pipes replies: Of course, military muscle is critical. But the West has it in such abundance that who will win is less the issue now than how we will win. |
Latest Articles |
|||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |