We hear a lot about diplomatic solutions these days. For those of you who find diplomacy puzzling, or wonder why few if any critical global issues ever get resolved, it’s because diplomacy only works if both parties are on an equal footing, both with strong hands to play.
Then, the calm, thoughtful and persuasive may succeed. It can be as winning a strategy as the Greek assurance to Troy, “We concede and retreat, Helen! We know you like horses. So here you go. Enjoy.”
This is the same technique international conferences use to achieve “binding” agreements that are not binding and resolutions as typical as a teenager’s confession: “Father, I know it’s impure and wrong, and I will never do it again.”
I have always felt that Mexicans would make superior diplomats because they have the character to defy frenzy and frustration—and remain calm, thoughtful and persuasive. As a result of their long, scrappy culture, they have cultivated a national character for politeness in public, control of their emotions, and most notably, a frequent preference for telling you convincingly what you want to hear—the precise nature of a diplomat.
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