Nicolle Machiavelli, the Diplomat

Machiavelli had two paths for success for a prince.

Mind you these are all against Dhamma Principles.

Path one is ruthlessness.
King has to a liar.
He has to be miserly.
He has to be very lavish.
He should be harsh to the people.
He should have an army.
He should purge powerful military men.
In other words he should murder the general when Italy was fully conquered.
Italy was divided into three, Florence, Naples and Roma and headed by vested interests.

He should not trust flatters.
He should be surrounded by wise men.

Other path is diplomacy.
For diplomacy to work there should be laws that control the commoner or his subjects.
Subjects should fear him.
Subjects should honour him.
Only after satisfying the above he should show kindness to some of his favoured subjects.
Always guard against the flatters.

The Fear was the base for power.
Fear of death, disease, disability and old age are natural to humans.
The slogan is these natural tendencies should be harnessed to remain in power.

Rulers are
King first.
Army second.
Law and order the last.

Democracy never.

War is common in human history.

Diplomacy is rare.

Nicolle Machiavelli, I believe was a classic example of how diplomacy was created in the medieval history having subdued all opponents by any mean including fear of death and punishment.

These are all real and perceived threats.

Whereas as the threats created by Church are not teal but manmade concoctions.

There were 3 elements in history.
King
Pope
Army

Councillors were non existent.

All my life I did not know who was Machiavelli.

An old lady whom I used to see on medical grounds, when I visited her, gave me a book in Sinhala, called Prince.

She was a political character and there were no political overtones in my simple consultations.

The paradox was that she claimed that she followed Buddha Dhamma.

I refused, since its content were political but on second thought accepted it.
Once, I tried to read it but got bored instantly.

Today, Google enticed me with several YouTube presentations.

This is an attempt to relive his attempts in diplomacy.

He was called prince of political philosophy.

To begin with politics has no philosophy.

Politics is the manifestation of greed and power.

The three who manifest this greed are obvious.

Depending on the Power of  the Pope and his greed for territorial claims and dominance wars were created by design.

Pope is the greediest of all.

Once war is started even Pope cannot intervene since there are many sectors including Orthodoxy.

We need a modern Machiavelli of high repute.

I do not think we would find one until Ukraine is decimated in full.

Do not put the blame on President Putin. He is prepared to drag this war until the presidential election in US is over and done with.

Then only, a suitable diplomatic entity should emerge.

One has to accept the American defeat and Americans have to swallow the bitter pill.

Biden wanted Putin changed and it would turn out to be that Biden and his policies will be changed without a single gun fired towards America.

Already 30,000 Russian soldiers are dead.

Ukrainian death toll is estimated to be over 400,000 and a ratio of over 1 to 10.

I do not know how many are displaced and how many are permanently wounded. Probably that runs in to millions and much more than the second world war casualties.

Che Guevara, the Real Revolutionary with a Beard

Che Guevara was born to a rich family but died as a hero to the oppressed.

He was assassinated in Bolivia by a singal soldier. Shots were fired to the lower body to show as he was killed in the battle and left to die (long term chronic asthma probably did the rest).
When his body was exhausted with six of his comrades it was found his arms were cut.

Later they were taken to Cuba for proper burial with state honours.

He died for the poor. the hungry and the diseased.

He was clever and never fought in battle without a gun in hand. He ridiculed the guys who went empty handed against a ruling junta.
He said it is counterproductive and result in either arrest or killed in battle.
When odds are heavy he preferred escaping from the battlefield..

That is what Russians do in Ukraine battle.

He carried his medicine in a pocket in his leg.

He emphasized the importance of the survival kit which CIA probably learned from him (to use in Afghanistan).

Swiss krist knife probably a byproduct of his safety tools.

He was 20 years senior to me and his Revolution started before I was born.

I can remember copying his photo with a pencil on the wall (side of my bed) at Arunachallum Hall. This was painted over by the university authorities during our vacation.

I also had wall hanging depicting a Vietnam peasant in a paddy field.
During this period North Vietnamese fought valiantly against US carpet bombing and  the use of agent orange over plush vegetation.

Battle of Tom King was a CIA conspirasy.

It was natural for me to become anti CIA not antiamerican.

CIA planned his assassination in Congo / Angola but failed.

His march to Havana (Castro arrived 12 days later) made him the real revolutionary force, against the capitalists of CIA/USA combo.

He was taken a prisoner.
Russia was instrumental in his release from Cuba.

This was the time when Russia had missiles stationed in Cuba (1962).

He was follower of Karl Marx political philosophy and the liberation of the working the class.
He followed Leninism but Lenin deplored killing but Stalin was like Che.

He worked in a labour colony and organized them within, in Latin America.

He was an intellectual.

He finished his 6 year course in medicine in half of that time.

He gave up practise of medicine to work and die for his comrades and fellow beings.

He excelled in sports, athletics, swimming and rugger but he had to give up rugger due to chronic asthma.

He was keen in music and produced revolutionary musical themes.

He organized a radio station for communication surveillance and he did know what the CIA tactics were and escaped assassination attempts twice.

His struggle was global and he did not remain in Argentina.

Che Guevara Beard
I use grow a beard in my first year as protest against the strict protocol of the medical faculty.
Che died in 1967 in October and I entered the university in October 1968. We sat the A Level examination in 1967 and it was a fashion for us to emulate him as a young radical. If I remember right another guy wore a beard since he failed the examination, twice. I was severely reprimanded by a senior medical guy who came from my village. He was one of  my brother's classmates.
I told him growing my beard is my business and he never said anything to me in his final year.
Of course I cut it during Viva Vose.
When the Army sent the gulag to the university I immediately cut my beard. I was asked to do so by a JVP guy who was my friend.

I continued to grow my beard in the university as a seconded officer but my professor never said anything.

The facial hair grows at 0.3 to 0.5 a day and it grows one third to one half inch a month. Its growth depends on genetics, nutritional status and perhaps the age (before puberty) and the type of testosterone. T and DHT.