We have a moral obligation to help people that are being oppressed by evil dictators. And we need to do something about it. We can't police everything, but we can pick and choose the ones. It is sometimes the case that countries are run by groups of thugs who can basically be toppled by just sending and disciplined troops. There was a rampage east temor in 19 99. An australian sentin disciplined troops, the rampage stopped. So if you're dealing with basky thugs or criminal or forces like that, they can be toppled, sometimes by simply showing up to a degree.
In this conversation based on his new book, The Stupidity of War, political scientist John Mueller argues that American foreign policy since 1945 has been one long miscue; most international threats — including during the Cold War — have been substantially exaggerated. The result has been agony and bloviation, unnecessary and costly military interventions that have mostly failed. With international war in decline, complacency and appeasement become viable diplomatic devices and a large military is scarcely required.