I had the honor of standing inside the White House Oval Office for a few minutes all by myself and eighteen months later found myself in the Great Hall in Beijing....seat of the Chinese Governing few.
The contrast between the two...and all of the history between the two nations was easy to sense and cause many questions on how we arrived where we have with the Chinese.
I harkened back to the days my government ignored the Chinese as if they did not even exist (publicly anyway) until Nixon ended that.
How does one ignore many hundred millions of people because of their embrace of Communism and it work out well?
I also found it odd how two Allies....Russia and the United States could become the enemies we did after working together to topple Nazi Germany.
Political leaders of all stripes, hues, and affiliations.....cause far more problems then they claim to solve.
Compromise is the answer...but negotiating to reach a compromise that works for both sides and results in both sides fully embracing it and living up to it is a whole different matter.
Compromise must not come in the form of appeasement.....which is what has happened far too many times.
Aggression must have a heavy price to it....and that is where the road to peace gets filled with potholes and obstructions.