Imagine if you will Barack Obama as a small child in the schoolyard, a bully crowding in on him ready for a biff.
He gets hit, says hes a "bad boy", turns the other cheek and continues getting hit over the term of his school days.
Imagine again if you will a young good looking Barack Obama in his mid 20s walking down the road with his best friend, when a big fellow with malicious intent lays into Barack's buddy.
Barack utters "bad man", does nothing to defend his mate and he ends up paralysed after the attack.
Fast forward to today, Barack is President and is confronted with North Korea blasting a ballistic missile over Japan, destination unknown, Barack and the UN say "bad country" do nothing and we are all left wondering what next.
These things confronted one Neville Chamberlain in the 1930s.
Appeasement towards your bullies/enemies simply doesn't work, they will still be your enemies if you do nothing but then they will know they can continue to escalate the bullying without appropriate consequence.
Eventually when you turn that much cheek you can run the risk of getting taken from behind.
Related Amazon Reading
 | Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War (New Frontiers in History) by Frank McDonough |
c Political Animal 2009
