This essay on anger and war by Armed Liberal of Winds of Change is even more topical now than when I bookmarked it a couple of months ago intending to blog about it. I've been deleting many such bookmarks unblogged, but this doesn't deserve to be one of them.

He discussed the danger of acting out of anger - or fear - in Iraq. Unlike me, he doesn't believe those two emotions were in fact the driving force behind this war - and its' Achilles heel. This is the only writing I've found about the effects our collective emotions have been having on us though.

One of the reasons I call this blog the Art of Peace is because I consider peace an art. You can't sustain it merely by not hurting anyone, or even being so powerful no rational actor would attack. As Sun Tsu recommended in another case, you must understand both yourself and any potential enemy.