It seems that centrist Mark Kleiman thinks continued Iran bashing is a bad idea because it is time “to give a hard time to” Russia. This belated opponent of the Iraq war seems to think that the point of ending that bloodbath is to turn our firepower against the appropriate new enemy — to be named later.

Apparently, it is not just Republican hawks for whom the 21st century will never arrive, because the year is eternally 1938, and the place eternally Munich. Peace is for dirty hippies. Problems like climate change are always going to have to wait for the current emergency to end, and for one last enemy to be defeated. Because being a moderate means you never run out of Hitlers.

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[Update] I decided the former version was unfair to Hilzoy – so eliminated all reference to her. The previous version really was attributing views to her she did not hold. My apologies.

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