Beautiful quote from Solzhenitsyn, wretchard, but just as you say, it is not an answer. Nor do I have one. And yes, the battle is forever, eternal vigilance, and all that, is not news. And I suppose, with the same reluctance that Dubya expressed eight years ago and slowly learned better, I don’t want to get engaged in nation-building in the heart of Africa (or elsewhere), but that may just be the burden of our times.

And yet, I suggest accepting that low-grade armed conflict and terrorism is a thing to get used to, is a wrong answer, because whatever you accept, you will get just a little more, that is the nature of the beast. It has never been our style, and I do not see it should be our style now.

This is not, btw, that we should look to “bug bomb” our enemies. I doubt it will come to that. I look to the example of how Jordan dealt with Palestinian terrorism twenty (?) years ago. Yes, the point had to be made, clearly, but on the scale of things, it was made quickly and at relatively (!?) low cost – lower cost in human terms than a low-grade terrorism going on for twenty years, anyway, especially if you count the burden on civil society living with violence.

Indeed, that is the basis of my position, I think it more merciful to all involved, and involving less carnage, if we get it over with. Anything else is at best a false economy – of violence.