Brutal Peace

Crabbe and Goyle, in the Harry Potter book series, seem to like a bully. They are always willing to aid and abet, if not implement, the schemes of Draco Malfoy. They are not alone; consider American foreign policy.

Imagine a schoolyard bully beating up a scrappy little kid for his lunch money. The bully is huge and has a reputation for brutality, so most kids stand back, hoping the little kid somehow gets out of this mess. Some of them encourage him to keep fighting back. He’s holding his own.

Finally, an upperclassman, who’s even bigger than the bully comes by. He shouts at the two boys to stop fighting. The bully ignores him, so his victim keeps defending himself. The older boy decides he needs to do something to restore peace.

He walks up to the fighters, and tells the smaller boy to hand over his lunch money. “What do I get in return?!” the boy asks.

“He’ll stop beating on you,” the older boy says.

“Is that it? I’ll keep fighting!”

The upperclassman then grabs the smaller boy, pins his arms, and tells the bully to keep punching. The victim can no longer fight back, so he gives up his lunch money.

The upperclassman and the bully walk away, congratulating themselves on their masterful restoration of the peace. The bully offers the upperclassman some of the lunch money. He quickly accepts. He winks.

The U.S.-brokered “peace plan” for the war in Ukraine is not so different from this, except that the stakes are far more serious. And the self-appointed peacemaker spent time conspiring with the bully to make sure all the bully’s demands would be met. Who knew that the American ideal is to side with Goliath.

But the kid hasn’t given up his lunch money yet. Some of us are still rooting for him. And maybe, if enough of us stick up for him, the bully and his even bigger ally will back down. Of course being bullies, with their fragile egos, they’ll require the rest of us to pretend that they won anyhow. I suppose we will, if it means the kid can keep his lunch money and get back to his schoolwork.

Oh, and just a random thought: although Draco Malfoy survives the final battle between good and evil, Crabbe is killed and Goyle likely imprisoned.