There's a tiny barren island off the coast of Maine that both the U.S. and Canada claim. If Washington and Ottawa wanted to settle the long-simmering dispute over Machias Seal Island they could send diplomats to sit down at a "negotiating table" and come up a compromise or maybe even a "win-win solution."
That's how diplomacy works between civilized nations.
But that's not how diplomacy works between civilized nations and terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels of Yemen, or their patron: the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Nor is it how diplomacy works with the neo-fascist/neo-imperialist dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, or the Communist ruler of China, Xi Jinping.
All the above will sign treaties and cut deals, but only a fool believes their word is their bond.
I'll give you three quick examples.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration promised that the people of Hong Kong, handed over by the United Kingdom to Beijing in 1997, would retain their freedoms until 2047. Mr. Xi egregiously broke that promise in 2020.
In the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Russia committed to "refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine." Mr. Putin's forces invaded Ukraine for the first time in 2014. He's been waging a brutal war of conquest since Feb. 24, 2022.
As an original signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), considered the most important global treaty on the world's deadliest weapon, Tehran committed to refrain from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is now closer than ever to developing nukes and missiles that can deliver them to targets anywhere in the world.
Why is it so difficult for some people – not least those in the White House and State Department – to see a pattern here?
George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Reagan, did get it, and he explained it succinctly: "Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table."
In other words, behind American diplomats there must be military and political leaders with both the capabilities and the will to inflict serious consequences. The alternative is appeasement which aggressors will always find provocative.
Teddy Roosevelt also understood this dynamic. To achieve foreign policy successes, he said, Americans should "speak softly and carry a big stick."
You know who else didn't harbor the delusion that diplomacy is an end rather than a means? Zhou Enlai, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1954 to 1976. "All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means," he instructed his comrades.
For nearly a year, President Biden's envoys have been negotiating through untrustworthy intermediaries with Hamas and Hezbollah. The former is holding civilian hostages, Americans among them. The latter has killed more Americans than any other terrorist group except al Qaeda.
As should be obvious by now, the leaders of these terrorist groups have no interest in "diplomatic solutions." Their goal is genocide – the annihilation of Israel. They say so clearly and even proudly.
Nevertheless, Secretary of State Antony Blinken keeps telling Israelis: "Progress must be made through diplomacy."
He appears to forget that, where Hezbollah is concerned, a "diplomatic solution" was put in place in 2006. That's when the last major war between Hezbollah and Israel was halted by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. It mandated that Israel cease firing at Hezbollah in exchange for Hezbollah removing its forces and missiles from southern Lebanon and, what's more, disarming.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) never enforced 1701. They never even tried.
Instead, they watched with bovine passivity as Hezbollah imported weapons and other munitions from Iran and deployed them in Lebanese homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques.
On Oct. 8, the day after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza and before Israel responded militarily, Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel's northern territories, destroying villages, homes and farms, killing children, and displacing tens of thousands of Israelis – essentially shrinking Israel.
Last week, Israel struck back hard, destroying Hezbollah's subterranean command-and-control headquarters in Beirut where longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was meeting with his high command.
Their deaths set off celebrations in Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other countries long victimized by Hezbollah and Tehran's other foreign legions. Most mainstream media ignored the cheering crowds, probably because their jubilation contradicts the fashionable narrative of Israel as pariah.
On Saturday, President Biden said his "aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means." He called for a ceasefire which would, of course, give Hezbollah time to regroup, rearm, and revive.
A few days earlier, President Biden had given his last speech at the UN, claiming that his foreign policies have been an enormous success. Not even Hunter Biden could find that credible.
But there's still time for a course correction. In his UN speech, the president also vowed that "Iran will never, ever obtain a nuclear weapon." Two years ago, he pledged "never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon" and to "use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome."
His predecessors, Republican and Democratic, have made similar promises.
He could accomplish this mission between now and January 20, 2025.
What a legacy that would leave!
What a lesson that would be for both America's enemies and friends!
What a speech he could give!