Appeasement of a ruthless outside power always invites aggression. Treaties made with ruthless despots are always fruitless and dangerous.
Prior to the ultimate conquest of the Greek mainland in 338, Greek allies, Thebes and Athens, negotiated the Peace of Philocrates with Philip II of Macedon. This gave him their acquiescence to the capture and enslavement of two small Greek city-states which stood in the way of his invading armies.
The principle wrapped inside the Athenians’ Peace of Philocrates has an immutability and colossal significance that cannot be overstated for twenty-first century West. The attempt by a civilization at appeasement of a ruthless enemy committed to its conquest will accomplish the opposite of the appeaser’s wishes. It will always invite attack. Further, the attempt at appeasement will signal that the time to strike is now.
For Athens and its allies, to allow Macedon to absorb two small buffer states without so much as a diplomatic protest was tantamount to Neville Chamberlain’s letter to Adolf Hitler. It forfeited the Western Allies’ alliance with Czechoslovakia and freed Hitler to absorb a nearly defenseless neighbor without retaliation.
It was tantamount to Bill Clinton’s transfer of nuclear weapons technology to China, tantamount to Jimmy Carter and Madeline Albright’s gift of uranium-fueled power plants to North Korea.
All are examples of the principle of appeasement, a civilization-threatening tactic.
Law #1: No nation has ever survived once its citizenry ceased to believe its culture worth saving. (Hanson’s Law)
Law #2: In battle, free men almost always defeat slaves. (Herodotus’ Law)
Law #4: If a people cannot avoid continuous internal warfare, they will have a new order imposed from without.
Law #5: When a free people, through taxation, is deprived of its ability to acquire wealth and property, collapse is presaged.
Law #6: To hold territory, a state must be populated by those loyal to the central authority. When immigration overwhelms assimilation, the fall is predicted.
Law #7: With the loss of fiscal solvency comes a loss of sovereignty.
Law #8: Debasing the currency always destabilizes the governing authority.
Law #9: When a civilization accepts the propaganda of its enemy as truth, it has reached the far side of appeasement and capitulation is nigh.
Law #10: Declining civilizations will always face superior firepower from ascending civilizations because sovereignty is only temporarily uncontested.
