For those of you who say that we must not sit down at a table and talk diplomacy with foreign nations until a set of "pre-conditions" are met, let me remind you that the Korean war would have been over in 6 months had it not been for the American and North Korean's demands that certain "pre-conditions" needed to be met. Of course, their arguments were about the color of chairs and such but it is close enough of an example to prove my point. The Korean War went on for over two years after peace negotiations were started. Because both sides were consumed with setting "pre-conditions", some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the war were fought and that nation was brought close to nuclear war with China. Battles like the Chosin Reservoir, where many of our Marines froze to death would not have been fought.
This whole notion of having diplomacy after a set of conditions are met is non-sense. How often do you think that it would happen that way for us? Apparently, not too often if we have never had face-to-face talks with "rouge" nations like Iran and Cuba. We see it as bravado but it does nothing but allow whatever situation that is ongoing to continue and delay any hopes of a resolution that would be beneficial for all. Nothing gets done, people get upset because nothing is getting done and then bad things happen and people get to point a finger. The days of gun-ho diplomacy are over. They have done nothing but lead us down a dangerous path where we stand alone in the world, hated by all.
1 comment:
Congratulations for the great article. I was doing some research writing a letter to the editor to the Washington Post and found your article. I am writing that the days of slavery, colonialism and gun-ho diplomacy are over. We have to respect the governments that other countries elect democratically
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