DIPLOMACY DIED… BUT THERE ARE NO WESTERN ADULTS LEFT TO GRIEVE OVER IT

It was, until 9/11, the usual way conflicts ended if there was no prospect of a decisive result. If you are old enough you may remember the name of this dying art, The term for it was ‘diplomacy’.

The world appears to be run by petulant children these days. The screaming taking place has become the most prevalent means of communication, and plain speaking in a calm and cogent manner appears to have become a lost art, at least among the vast majority of western politicians.

What could have caused this apparent atrophying of western political brain power? Do these kindergarten tyrants throwing their weight and toys around have any concept of how such tirades can end? The spanking that takes place will be by their constituents, those who are looking on aghast at their antics. We must hope so at least, and before the body bags start arriving in bulk.

Diplomacy used to be the primary tool with which to calm tempers within and build bridges among two opposing sides. It has been used down the ages as a logical step by those who were able to perceive the outcomes most likely to emerge if things carried on as they were. Those with a heart that was not embroiled in the emotional turmoil exhibited by those they sought to bring together, were vital. Without them no war would ever have ended. Where are such people now? They are very much notable by their absence.

You may have heard talk of a ‘Forever War’ since the events of 9/11. I believe the clue to why diplomacy has died can be found in that short phrase. This is a war without recourse to diplomacy. A war where bridges are only burned, not built between opposing sides. It’s a war the protagonists who use this phrase do not envisage ever ending. They puff out their chests before beating them as warriors ready to smite every foe and exercise zero mercy in doing so. They are not minded to forgive, forget or ever, even for the slightest moment attempt to understand the motivation of their foes. They are to killed, defeated, undermined, humiliated, eliminated, destroyed… but heaven forfend they should ever be understood.

Diplomacy died and was speedily consigned for immediate and unrecoverable cremation in the hours after 9/11. It was conceived to be an unquestionable truth by those making the decision that it was no longer required and that further, it would only be a time-wasting barrier to attaining an urgently required outcome. That outcome was the destruction of every potential enemy of the USA and its allies out there. No quarter was to be given to those savages all tarred by the same brush. If you did not accept the USA as the leader of the free world and get yourself bowed quickly down to it, you were as bad as those who acted against it on 9/11.

As I have commented upon in previous texts Vladimir Putin quickly fell into the above category. This was in Munich in February of 2007 when he addressed the devotees of the above policy and stated boldly and baldly that Russia would be doing no bowing. You will find no hatchet jobs calling him all the names that are now very familiar in press or media between the year 2000 when he became president and his speech in 2007. In that year, from February of that year he became a marked man high, if not in the highest position of the list of those targetted. It was unconscionable for those at the top of the western political tree in that conference hall to hear Putin speak of the regime change wars the USA and its allies had engaged in, in negative terms. It was clear to them then and there that he had to go.

There was to be no diplomacy after 9/11. This is one reason why Trump was so very unwelcome as U.S. president from 2016 right to the end of his term. He attempted to revive the art of diplomacy. He met with Putin who most of the rest of the world considered to be a reincarnated Hitler by that point. He met with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Here was someone who wasn’t on the bus that all others within the political hierarchy of the USA and its allies had climbed onto with alacrity immediately after 9/11. Why was he talking with their enemies instead of using the what by then was the standard mode of address, hectoring them as malignant devils?

In regard to the Middle East currently and in Ukraine also we see the same post-9/11 ‘no diplomacy’ playbook in operation. The Israeli government is using every possible weapon against the Palestinian people of Gaza. The USA can clearly be seen avoiding any suggestion that diplomacy should play any part. Perhaps one or two statements made as a kind of self-protective theatre may be mistaken for diplomacy but in reality none is truly being advocated or engaged in. The case in Ukraine is even worse and presents an even greater potential for escalation than that in Gaza. Escalation after escalation is order of the day, pushing things harder and harder toward an ever more destructive war, doubling down toward an unachievable goal of Ukrainian “victory”. No diplomacy exists and this seems to suit most of the western powers just fine. With the exception of Hungary and Slovakia only more war seems to fit the bill.

And so we who are mere bystanders watch as the political kindergarten kids attempt to knock lumps out of each other with no teachers or social workers in sight. No school bell rings. No adult enters the fray to separate the brawling tots intent on delivering a final blow to their peers. The headmaster/headmistress resigned as it became clear the place was ungovernable. No parents arrive to scold their offspring into being better behaved. Instead these mewling, screaming, kicking, scratching minors remain in a fight to the death within the kindergarten from Hell. The art of diplomacy has well and truly died and been given a very indecent burial. And it appears there is not a single adult left in the western world to grieve over the fact.