Legalistic Foreign Policy

"For it is a history that keeps repeating itself, in the West's dealings with fanatical regimes. We do not seem to be able to learn that confrontation is cheaper now than later, that fires are worth putting out before they spread. Or that 'containment' is only a workable strategy for a rainy day. ... The costs [sanctions] impose on the enemy are often exceeded by the cost of their enforcement. ... But they are doomed to fail, as all legalistic sanctions have always failed to deter criminal regimes", David Warren in http://www.realclearpolitics.com/, 28 October.

Sanctions did not bring down Iraq, nor will they affect Iran. Sanctions are just Western "feel goodism", with no expected affect. Did we learn nothing from Neville Chamberlain's 1938 Munich trip? I guess not.