Needed: Courage and Patriotism; Capitalism and American Foreign Policy

Abstract

Though there has been a veritable spate of talk in the last few weeks about extending the Korean war by bombing and blockading China, the plain truth is that all rational military arguments are overwhelmingly in favor of an armistice. However much American generals and admirals may like the Korean. war as a training school for their forces, they must know by now (1) that it cannot possibly be won in Korea itself, (2) that the Chinese air force is growing stronger every day and is already capable of exacting a terrible toll of American pilots and planes, (3) that whatever damage might be wreaked on China would turn people all over the world, and especially throughout Asia, against the United States but would have little or no strategic significance, and (4) that there is no more possibility of reaching a military decision in an unlimited war against China than there is in a war confined to Korea. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.