NYT's Kristof: No Military Means More Happiness?

Mark Hemingway spots this “Give Peace A Chance” moment in the Gray Lady:

See if you want to read past the first line of NYT columnist Nick Kristof’s latest:

Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth.

Riiiiiighhhhtt. It’s like John Lennon’s “Imagine” is the template for liberal foreign policy. Is this supposed to be provocative somehow, because a good many readers probably won’t get past the rank stupidity. I’d like to think that a few years back when Kristof was watching the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center from the Times building in midtown Manhattan, the first thought going through his head was not, “You know, we’d all be happier if we had no army right now…”

It’s two papers in one! Didn’t Thomas Friedman just get done telling us that America should be more like China — who aren’t exactly downsizing their military, last time I checked.

Update: In the comments below, Reader “Levans” asks a great question:

If we abolish our military, how are we going to invade Israel and force a Palestinian state? Clearly, Kristof and Sullivan need to meet and devise some middle/moderate ground wherein the military is downsized and re-missioned to deal with the treasonous dissent of the tea-party movement and the fascistic desire of Israel to survive and protect its citizens.

This sounds like a conundrum for another leading Times columnist to wrestle with.