Only those with psychological intelligence, social skills and sound intentions can negotiate successfully. Those who do not believe in negotiating lack understanding and skills. Backing people into a corner is not negotiation. Punitive, coercive pressures including threats, isolation, sanctions, and rejection provoke fear, humiliation and defiance. Demonization, zero sum, and concrete black-and-white thinking block imagination and foreclose options. Tension reduction, positive inducements, and win-win strategies work better.
During the Cuban missile crisis President Kennedy's used psychological intelligence, allowing face-saving ways out. Resisting pressure to be " tough," he probably prevented nuclear war. North Korea responded better to inducements than threats. There are many similar examples.
Can we contain evil?
Before invading Iraq, Sadaam Hussein was contained with IAEA inspectors and media exposure. He was no longer committing atrocities. Shooting with cameras is more effective than shooting with fire. Research conducted by the Global Nonviolent Peace Force on unarmed accompaniment shows that being watched inhibits violence. Containing evil buys time and space to resolve problems without bloodshed.
Might attempts to defeat evil unleash more evil?
"What has made the state into hell is that man wanted to make it his heaven." Holderin
Simplistic, superficial attempts to "defeat evil" eventually create more. Might dividing the world into good guys and bad guys provoke the evil we are trying to prevent? We always get to be good, and so do our enemies. According to the "mirror image of the enemy" (Bronfenbrenner) each side believes themselves to be noble, just and true, while the other is hostile, aggressive, and evil. This system does not contain the seeds to resolve the problems it intends to address. There is no endgame -- only escalation.
21st century security-globalization, asymmetrical dynamics, the internet, and WMDs - renders old notions of warfare obsolete. The "War on Terror" creates "The War on the War on Terror" (the law of opposites). People are more dangerous when afraid, attacked and morally outraged. If we study the emergence of extremist groups, we discover that attempts to dominate, control and defeat fuel and strengthen our enemies and their identity (as attacking us has strengthened our patriotism). Absorbed by our own security needs, we do not see how our actions make others insecure and self-protective. The way to be more secure is to make your enemy more secure.
The Iraq war has traumatized millions and horrified billions. "Defeating" Sadaam Hussein, at huge costs has radicalized individuals and groups, increased recruitment and multiplied terrorist incidents seven fold. Before the war my colleagues and I predicted this inevitability and tried to warn the public and politicians.
Overthrowing Iran's democratically elected President Mosaddegh in 1953 created conditions for the rise of fundamentalism. This is not about blame -- but understanding and preventing. I now fear that Israel and/or the U.S. may provoke and/or attack Iran. Gripped by existential fear, intending to prevent another Holocaust, they might provoke a wider holocaust. Our fear-based reactions increase the popularity of Ahmadinejad, anti-American sentiments, and make it harder for Iranian moderates. If we are careful, Ahmadinejad will lose the next election.
Can we draw energy away from evil towards a higher force?
Ahmadinejad is not Iran. Mutual threats fuel hard-liners on both sides and ratchet up hostilities. Few Americans realize that Iranians held candlelight vigils for us on September 12, 2001. They enthusiastically helped us with intelligence with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Then Bush placed them on the Axis of Evil and threatened them. Still, in 2003 Iran made a secret offer to the US to accept Israel, defund Hamas and Hezbollah, and more -- desiring to improve relations with us. The Bush administration ignored this. Then they elected Ahmadinejad and started their nuclear energy program.
We could have prevented evil -- and we still can. We can recognize good faith initiatives, building on significant mutual interests -- which also exist between Iran and Israel. We can shift focus to the Supreme leader, who has more power than Ahmadinejad. We eliminate the Iranian threat by tension reduction and transforming our relationship.
Does evil exist?
My journeys through evil include Dachau concentration camp, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Palestinian refugee camps. I have worked with Holocaust survivors and severely abused people. My friends include a former Cambodian child soldier, a Rwandan whose loved ones were hacked to death who teaches reconciliation, and others.
What is evil?
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