As I review the 2 major conflicts currently running in the world I see the constant refrain from every single nutjob with no skin in the game demanding a cease-fire and peace talks. You have to wonder what planet they wandered in from because they always fail to understand how conflicts end. They assume that because some exchange of words is involved that conflicts are brought about by embracing the proper words. What they always fail to see is that conflict is finally resolved when one side or the other can no longer bear the pain of continuing.
In both Ukraine and Gaza it is quite painfully clear that the country with the upper hand has not reached the point where it feels any pain and the losing side refuses to accept the pain of losing and so remains fully engaged in bleeding to death. So, why do all the 3rd parties insist that talks can lead to peace? Is there a single example where words alone not backed up by the most explicit threat of imposing agonizing defeat ever worked to end a conflict?
In too many of the cases where conflicts were resolved over a peace talks table how often did we get yet another perfectly reasonable casus belli which would use the very words of the peace agreement to define the justification for starting the next war?
One of the less delightful aspects to living and reading history is how one finds so many people pig ignorant of history who fail to understand at all the reason why things are the way they are and who assume that there is one singular cause for unhappiness that leads to war but that it can all be dispelled if we all just sit down together and talk about it. For them the Christmas Bombing was just another brutal act by a detached government in Washington and not the goad applied to the North Vietnamese to quickly conclude a peace treaty that would permit Americans to flee Vietnam and pretend they were not defeated there.
America was sick to death of the War and wanted out. All the other parties were perfectly willing to keep playing at America's expense of course. That is what the situation looks like right now in Ukraine and in Gaza. I think Americans are sick of it but since we don't have any skin in the game it is not up to us to once again go in and unilaterally surrender one side to the other. Short of that I'm not sure how far in the hole Ukraine will be forced before it finds a leader who can sue for peace. With Gaza nobody knows and nobody really cares. The whole idea of 'free will' and conscience died aborning in the Middle East in 637 AD. All that is left is Holy War.
By the way, those are truly horrible kinds of wars.
1 comment:
The Christmas bombings made the North Vietnamese seek peace and Kissinger was willing to leave our POWs in Vietnam while making huge concessions to the North Vietnamese. This occurred in Paris while the North was seeking immediate peace and willing to give the US more that what was ever hoped for.
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