Chwioch the Dandy was bailiff of Castle Danghodhan in Ensign Flandry but now is the Merseian ambassador to Terra: another case of individual advancement over this period of time.
Chwioch:
"...would find - no, create - a pretext for breaking off the negotiations toward a nonaggression pact which he had so skillfully been prolonging. That would send waves of dismay over nobles, rich commoners, and intellectuals throughout the Empire, which in turn would bring an outcry for a 'new politics' pointed in a more comforting direction." (p. 266)
Skillfully prolonging important negotiations, then breaking them off on a pretext! I would not do such a job - would not even be capable of it - and would not want to work for any government that used such tactics. Some at least of those nobles, commoners and intellectuals will see through Chwioch's game and will not be led by the nose toward a comforting "new politics."
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Unfortunately, the phenomenon Anderson described in THE GAME OF EMPIRE was and is all too likely and plausible. Because that was exactly how the late, unlamented USSR used to behave. I remember the similar "waves of dismay" felt by our elites when Pres. Reagan refused to agree to the kind of terms Gen. Secretary Gorbachev was demanding at their summit.
And, yes, not all our elites in the US or the Empire would be deceived by the USSR or Merseia.
Ad astra! Sean
I really cannot think of any government currently that does -not- employ tactics like that.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! At least any gov'ts larger than those of Andorra, Monaco, or Liechtenstein's!
Ad astra! Sean
Maybe the world is in an even worse state than I thought...
Kaor, Paul!
I'm more inclined than not to think it is! But that should not lead us to indulge in apathetic passivity, but to doing what we can. For me, that means striving to be realistic and supporting conservative ideas and politics. And I also advocate things like a REAL space program because Robert Heinlein was right when he said it was FOOLISH to keep all our eggs in the only basket we have, Terra. Which means I strongly hope Elon Musk succeeds in founding his Mars colony.
Ad astra! Sean
Diplomacy is, like war, a subset of politics. It's not the opposite of war: it's a related phenomenon.
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