Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
Since when is diplomacy about learning? Diplomacy is about power.
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When diplomacy is about power, then destruction (ie war) is acceptable. Diplomacy is always about learning. Learning is why people best meet face to face. To learn.
Why did Churchill spend two weeks in the White House in 1942? FDR and Churchill had to teach each other the many relevant concepts and experiences so that informed decisions could be made. The most important was an entire purpose of WWII. Unconditional surrender.
Reagan and Gorbachev met in Iceland to learn from one another many facts that might make possible an end to a Cold War. In order to eliminate distracting 'power' issues, they met alone only with two translators and two security agents. They almost eliminated all nuclear weapons. They didn't. But what resulted was mostly in what was learned by diplomacy in Iceland. It ended the Cold War (even though wacko extremists like Cheney insisted otherwise).
That is even why all nations have ambassadors in other nations. Diplomacy. To learn from others.
Diplomacy is always about learning - when a diplomat is working for the people. And not by Hugo Chavez, Milosevic, Hitler, or Pol Pot. Even Lt Calley could have negotiated with those Vietnamese villagers. But he was only interested in using big guns - power. And so he (and his superiors) created a My Lai massacre. They did not learn by being diplomatic. They were driven by power.
Le Pen has no interest in diplomacy. Even refuses to wear a headscarf. She is an extremist - not diplomatic. She is driven by power. She wants to power those clerics into what to believe. She has no interest in learning what those religious leaders know. She demonstrates when diplomacy is corrupted by power. When a diplomat is not diplomatic; is an extremist - an enemy of humanity.
BTW, we have a president who cannot be diplomatic. He already knows more than the generals. He is driven by power and self serving gratification. He clearly is not and never was diplomatic. And so we have the Bowling Green massacre and murdering immigrants raging in the streets of Sweden. Had he been diplomatic, he would have never said those things. He worships power - not diplomacy.
When in Rome,do as the Romans do. He is not visiting her. She is visiting him. Diplomacy (in order to learn) requires a modicum of respect.