Let's acknowledge harsh facts. Beijing's dictators were willing to shoot students a decade ago. Reports indicate that they have ordered the shooting of protesting villagers in recent weeks. That's certainly not something I want. But we need 20-20 vision now if we are to forestall that scenario in the year 2020.
Some folks there believe that war is an unnatural act, one preventable by astute diplomacy.
The faithful there possess great faith in human goodness. They believe that leaders across the world naturally want to avoid war, but are forced into it through mistrust or institutional problems. All they are saying is that we should give peace a chance by restraining our arms production, eliminating or reducing the effectiveness of our military alliances and so forth. The Bush administration also includes skeptics who view international relations in line with a harder-edged view of human nature. They see war as very natural, given man's greed for power.