Giving the Face-Saving Option

A face-saving option. Giving one to the enemy doesn’t come naturally. It can feel abhorrent. But sometimes, it is the smarter move. Richard Haass in his book, The World, talks of two such examples.

 

The first one is how the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 was defused. Yes, the US insisted that Soviet missiles be removed from Cuba. But they also gave the Soviets something in return – they removed their own missiles from Turkey. And the US declared publicly declared that it wouldn’t invade Cuba (if the Soviets backed out). Technically, they needn’t have made either “concession”. But doing so gave the Soviets a face-saving option: the Soviets could spin the Turkey aspect as a win domestically; and the not-invading-Cuba-declaration as a signal to the world that the Soviets didn’t hang their allies out to dry.

 

Why did the US give the face-saving option? Because the alternative was unknowable and thus dangerous. For example, a complete loss of face could have led to a domestic coup in the USSR. Fearing which, the Soviet leadership might have dug their heels in Cuba. Either way (giving up on Cuba and a possible coup, or digging in leading to further escalations), could one predict how things would play out? With nukes in the equation, could one risk it?

 

Another example from the book is how (the first) George Bush handled the fall of the USSR in 1991. He made sure the (new) Russian leadership didn’t feel humiliated – he handled the situation delicately. Also, Bush did not start taking the newly freed eastern European countries into NATO. How did this help? A humiliated Russia might have lashed out. An expanding NATO might have forced Russia to mobilize its army. When a country was disintegrating, you didn’t want to give them a reason to unify due to an external threat. By being mature, Bush helped ensure that the Cold War ended peacefully.

 

(In case you are wondering: NATO’s expansion to include the former Soviet-bloc countries started with Clinton and then continued with almost every American President after that – and that long road has now led to the invasion of Ukraine).

 

Doing the mature thing can help, even in the cynical, calculating world of international relations.

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