According to reports, the hedge fund Elliott Management defended the Iran war in a note to investors last month. In particular, it argued against the liberal cliché that “force alone” cannot defeat an idea. Weren’t Nazism and Japanese imperialism both bombed out of existence in 1945? Did democratic constitutions not take their place? Might the same therefore not happen in theocratic Iran? On that basis, who but a churl or a pacifist would refuse to give war a chance?
It is hard to know where to begin with this, but here are two important differences between the second world war and the current crisis.