be strong, don't plead other's mercy or reasoning

I recently bought Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath and learned new things or new perspectives.

But for today, I would share with you one thing I learned from a Malaysia military blog.

http://malaysiamilitarypower.blogspot.my/2016/06/good-bye-mig-and-mmp-replying-to.html

“Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia did not modernise his military with false sense that diplomacy, ie the participation of Ethiopia as a founding members to League of Nations guaranteed his country from being invaded.
He was proven wrong when Bennito Mussolini’s Italy invaded Ethiopia.

He was wrong again when the Leagues of Nations did not raise a finger.

He was wrong again when the United States had a Marine officer with an observer status witnessing the Italian invasion.

So to was Poland. They believed that their military treaty with United Kingdom would protect them from German invasion.

They were wrong. The Germans invaded.

They thought the British would send military reinforcement. They were wrong. The British retreated to the beach of Dunkirk and beyond.”

One quote from Wikiquote :


It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy; power is enough.

Only the weak rely on diplomacy.

This is why the weak are so deeply concerned with the democratic principle of the sovereign equality of states,  as a means of providing some small measure of equality for that which is not equal in fact.

Coming from a developing country, I was trained extensively in international law and diplomacy and mistakenly assumed that the great powers, especially the United States, also trained their representatives in diplomacy and accepted the value of it.

But the Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States. 

Diplomacy is perceived by an imperial power as a waste of time and prestige and a sign of weakness.

        Boutros Boutros-Ghali, as quoted in Unvanquished : A U.S. - U.N. Saga (1999), p. 198.

I started not giving a damn about criticism from the Main-Cons during work.

Even my boss says "Just ignore".

Sometimes with people, there's no need for reasoning or pleading for mercy.