Commentary
This month marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. If anyone has studied the history of the world, or even the history of a country, any country, they understand that there’s always someone to fight. South Korea is a testament to that fact.
In the classic military strategy text “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu demonstrates the principles required for victory and the mistakes common in defeat. The focal point for Sun Tzu is how to achieve victory or, at the least, avoid defeat. It’s clear in the text that the idea of perpetual peace is an impossibility. It’s a utopian ideal. In his introduction to a 2012 edition of the book, Jan Willem Honig, professor of military strategy at the Swedish National Defense College, wrote that “no end state, no final peace, is ever reached, there will always be an opponent with whom to contend.”…