Diplomacy assumes that national leaders act according to the usual norms of reasoning. They design actions in order to accomplish certain ends, and one of these is the preservation of their nation. But what if a nation's leader is or becomes genuinely mad and attempts to carry out policies that will, he believes, lead to the destruction of his nation and, perhaps, the world? Or what if he is so deranged that he has no conception of means and ends, so that he undertakes policies that will lead to the destruction of the world, but has no awareness that they might? Such a leader would be a "madman." And in that case, the ordinary rules of diplomacy would not hold.
I am not going to comment. Click on the title to link to the original article on The New Republic Online, July 6, 2006.
unbelievable...
[oops, i just commented!]
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