Debate Grows on Nuclear Containment of Iran
For a few months in the mid-1960s President Johnson and his aides secretly weighed bombing China’s nuclear sites — perhaps seeking Soviet help — rather than let Mao get the bomb.
Then the costs of starting another war in Asia sank in and they decided to try containment — living with a threatening regime while deterring its most dangerous moves.
It worked.
Nearly five decades later, more Americans wake up worried about our trillion-dollar debt to China than about China’s arsenal.
China has evolved into a comparatively manageable military competitor, at least for now.
Today a version of the same debate about whether containment is the answer is breaking out again, this time about Iran.
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