Does Middle Eastern Culture preclude the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction?
However, I think the issue at play is less the relative applicability of Mutually Assured Destruction and more the asymmetry of ethical and moral values displayed by the various parties. If an entity truly doesn’t care about the killing of innocent civilians–its enemy’s and its own, then one needs to worry. For example, Israel has the military fire power to level Gaza. If it were to do so, this would be nothing short of a massacre of well over a million Palestinian Arabs. But, Israel has a set of ethical and moral principles which governs the behavior of its military. As a result, Israel is placing its own soldiers at risk by mounting a ground offensive. The purpose of the ground offensive is to increase the likelihood of achieving its objectives while minimizing civilian casualties. Every innocent civilian casualty is a tragedy. But, when Israel’s enemy, Hamas, hides itself amongst innocent Gazan civilians, Israel has 3 choices. It can bomb them and kill the Hamas militants, but at a
