re: #149 Shiplord Kirel

That was a most unfortunate lapse into moralism for the Reagan administration. Ron wanted to get the hostages out of Lebanon; he refused to say, start assassinating Iranian officials until they got the message; and went on to try to bribe them. The results were rather messy. Don’t even get me started on Jimmy Carter’s harebrained attempts to inject morals into policy.

A little Machiavellianism is sometimes called for. The foundations and bulwarks of a society are not identical to its highest values.