Libertarian preemptive strike?

—–Original Message—–
From: A
Sent: Tue 8/8/2017 11:46 PM
To: Walter Block;
Subject: Libertarian preemptive strike?
Dear Walter,
Suppose the leader of country A threatens to bomb all people of country B. According to Kinsella’s estoppel theory, anyone in country B has the right to bomb the leader of country A (before the leader of country A actually bombs anyone in country B). Of course an immediate objection would be that doing so would inevitably also hurt some innocent people in country A. But then according to the Blockian theory of negative homesteading (cf. the example of the human shield), a person in country B still has the right to bomb the leader of country A (and, in doing so, hurt some innocent people) in this case. (Of course it should be done by private individuals, but that’s another issue.) What do you think of the above line of reasoning, which just came to my mind? Thanks a lot for your time! A

Dear A: This sounds ok to me, but only with a big IF: if we don’t apply this to North Korea in the manner you suggest! Why not? Because the North Koreans saw what happened to Grenada, Libya, and other small, otherwise weak countries that had no nuclear weapons. So, it is really Uncle Sam that FIRST threatened to bomb the North Koreans, and did more than threaten. He actually carried out his plans to take over small, otherwise weak countries that had no nuclear weapons. Then, too, Uncle Sam was instrumental in keeping North and South Korea from amalgamating, just as did East and West Germany. So, your thought, I think, is acceptable to libertarian theory, at least as I understand it, but only with North Korea and the US reversed in your example. Of course, I don’t say North Korea would be justified in any preemptive strike against the US, God forbid. That would kill, murder, many innocent people. I only say that IF any preemptive strike is justified, which it is not, then matters would be the reverse of your implication. How many foreign military bases does the US have? About 800. How many foreign military bases does NK have? About 0. In how many foreign countries are these bases located? US: about 130. NK: zero, again. Who is the aggressor here? How many troops does the US have on the southern border of NK? Tens of thousands. How many troops does NK have on the southern border of the US? I’ll give you three guesses. What proper business would NK troops have on the border of the US? None. What proper business do US troops have on the border of NK? None, again.

Further reading:

Shields:

Block, Walter E. 2010. “Response to Jakobsson on human body shields.” Libertarian Papers. http://libertarianpapers.org/2010/25-block-response-to-jakobsson-on-human-body-shields/

Block, Walter E. 2011. “The Human Body Shield” Journal of Libertarian Studies; Vol. 22 , pp. 625-630; http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_30.pdf

Block, Walter E. Forthcoming. “Human shields, missiles, negative homesteading and libertarianism” Ekonomia Wroclaw Economic Review

Estoppel:

Kinsella, Stephan. 1992. “Estoppel: A New Justification for Individual Rights,” Reason Papers No. 17, Fall, p. 61; http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/17/rp_17_4.pdf

Kinsella, Stephan. 1994. “The Undeniable Morality of Capitalism,” 25 St. Mary’s Law Journal 1419; (review essay of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property (1993));

Kinsella, Stephan N. 1996. “New Rationalist Directions in Libertarian Rights Theory,” 12:2 J. Libertarian Studies 313 326, Fall; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_5.pdf

Kinsella, Stephen. 1996. “Punishment and Proportionality: the Estoppel Approach,” The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, Spring, pp. 51-74; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/12_1/12_1_3.pdf

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7:54 pm on August 14, 2017