How was it possible for a single Lilliputian to challenge
Gulliver and score a draw? It was possible because Gulliver wasn't really
Gulliver but Samson in disguise. As to the Lilliputian, he wasn't really a Lilliputian
but Delilah in disguise. The secret of Samson's strength being hidden in his
hair, when Delilah cut that hair while he was asleep, she took away his
strength, turning him into a regular commoner.
No nation on earth can be thought of as a genuine Gulliver
that will never lose its strength. But like Samson, all nations start from
humble beginnings and grow strong with time. Some will grow big enough and
strong enough to become a giant. If not careful, however, these nations will be
challenged by one or more small entities thus start a process that will unravel
their aura of invincibility. They will be reduced, and they will continue to
diminish till they become a shadow of their former selves.
As it happened to the empires of ancient and modern times,
superpower America sees
itself challenged by North
Korea , one of the smallest Lilliputians on
Earth. The little one dared to challenge the giant because America
overextended itself to play a self-assigned role that most earthlings consider
pointless and unnecessary.
Moreover, what appears to be a self-assigned role is in
reality an idea that was planted in America 's
head by a previous giant named Britain ,
while on her deathbed. Doing the moral equivalent of cutting Samson's hair, Britain whispered false stories and elements of
demagoguery in the ear of the rising American giant about a mysterious neighbor
named Soviet Union that's wrapped inside an
enigma, and bent on doing harm to it and to all its allies. This began the
process of America 's
over-extension and its ultimate demise.
What will come next can only be the inevitable. Like the
force of gravity that cannot be neutralized, America is destined to keep going
down in relation to its rivals. However, the good news is that while going
down, America
can still choose one of two paths. One path will humble it without humiliating
it; the other will humiliate it by dragging it into scenes of absolute
disgrace.
Despite this apparent gloom, consider it that America is
lucky to have a number of people giving it good advice. Two of those are Jim
Mattis, its Secretary of Defense and Rex Tillerson, its Secretary of State.
They co-wrote: “We're Holding Pyongyang to account,” an article that also came
under the subtitle: “The U.S. ,
its allies and the world are united in our pursuit of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula
A day before that, Robert Kelly had published an article
that came under the title: “We can live with a nuclear North Korea ,”
and the subtitle: “There's frankly no sane alternative.” It was published on
August 13, 2017 in the New York Daily News.
What makes the Mattis and Tillerson approach a good one is
that they avoid sounding like the giant that's indignant he is being challenged
by a little nobody. Instead, they talk to North Korea in a tone that sounds
like athletes from a big country inviting athletes from a smaller country to
come to the stadium and play a friendly match. Here is the relevant passage in
their article:
“The U.S.
is willing to negotiate with Pyongyang
… It is incumbent upon the regime to signal its desire to negotiate in good
faith. An indication would be the cessation of threats, nuclear tests, missile
launches and other weapons tests”.
And what makes the Robert Kelly advice a good one is that
the author sees history not simply as a series of events that follow each
other, but a chain of causes and effects that tie the present to the past, and
pave the way for what may happen in the future. Here is the relevant passage in
his article:
“It is worth observing that the US has learned to live with
other countries' nuclear weapons and missiles without a war … The US has the
best military, and it is tempting to use that leverage … but North Korea has
capabilities to do great damage to our allies in the region … they could
potentially kill hundreds of thousands in Seoul … Were China to enter the war,
Americans and Chinese shooting at each other could spiral into a regional or
global conflict, sucking in Russia and Japan”.