Crazier than they are

Apparently there are lots of people at the center of the advice/decision leadership circle who continue to think that aggressive posturing, even to the level of threatened nuclear strikes, works for us internationally. "If they're going to be crazy, they should worry that we're going to act crazy too." Seriously, this is what is driving current planning with regard to, e.g., Iran. Because, you know, Shock and Awe had the natives so scared that they just threw down their spears and ran back to their lagoon. Sigh. Digby captures my sentiment precisely:

This is such a deeply immature view that I honestly don't know these influential middle aged men are even allowed to drive much less be taken seriously on foreign policy. The United States is a superpower. We do not need to "act crazy." Indeed, acting crazy is the last thing a superpower should ever do. It makes others miscalculate because they think we are unpredictable and dumb.

Aren't there professionals somewhere who know better? Couldn't we try listening to them, for a change, rather than sticking with our lowest schoolyard instincts?

Update: of course, even a "pretend to be crazy" scheme gets undermined if you let it be known that you may be sabre-rattling for the benefit of your polling numbers... Double-yeesh.