For Liu Bei, he saw that Cao Cao was an evil hero who has rarely met with tactics, strategy and great ambition. Cao Cao is willing to betray the people of the world, including betraying the King, but the people of the world cannot betray Cao Cao. Cao Cao can betray allies, can betray anyone and plunder their lands and armies, but anyone who wants to betray Cao Cao must die and be brutally punished without exception, even the pregnant queen. Likewise, in international politics there is no friendship or immortal enemy, but only interests and power. The act of being honest and treacherous is only for the interest and power.
It has been observed that in the history of the world, there has never been a great power that would give up its interest and power just for the sake of gratefulness or promises. The United States and its allies see promises or treaties as the necessary for resolving the past problems, while betrayal is a necessary for solution to current problems and to seize new opportunities. As mentioned above, since the end of World War II, the United States has bombed and planned to overthrow the leaders of more than 30 countries and betray all enemies, including almost all of its allies, and some countries have been betrayed by the United States up to 8 times.
For the United States, the use of word “betrayal” is politically incorrect and a disgrace, but everything is just a strategy for national interests and power, because American responsibility is primarily for American destiny, not a moral obligation to rescue the Allies primarily. “The United States has always been proud of its leadership system, but its leaders are unbelievable,” said Deng Xiaoping, China’s top leader. “Before the election, they say something, when take power, they say something differently, in midterm election and when they leave the office, they say something differently,” he added. It is also observed that when the problems of the world and its allies are useful and related to the power and influence of the United States, the United States considers “it is our common problem,” but if it leads the United States to pay, it is “Your own problem.”
Kurds is an ethnic group of more than 40 million people living in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Kurds is a group that has always served American policy and is considered by the United States to be a tool for achieving its political objectives. In the last 100 years, the United States has betrayed Kurds eight times, including providing weapons to Kurds and inciting the 1963 Iraqi coup. In the 1970s, President Nixon provided them with weapons to attack the Iraqi government again on the issue of Iraq turning to Soviet Union against the United States. Ten years later, when Iraqi leaders used chemical weapons to carry out genocidal attacks on the Kurdish, US President Reagan tried to prevent Congress from approving sanctions against the Iraqi government and ignoring them. They ignored the group that always serves its own interests and does not care about such atrocities.
In 1991, when the Persian Gulf War broke out, George HW Bush re-armed the Kurds to help them attack the Iraqi government. The Kurds have always hoped that the United States would recognize them to form an independent state with a territory like Israel. Instead, Bill Clinton gave weapons to Turkey, which considered the Kurds to be enemy and killed tens of thousands of Kurds. The Kurds was also the group that helped the United States to attack ISIS. After the Syrian war in 2015, the United States abandoned the Kurds, although they sacrificed their lives against the Assad and ISIS government to serve the US interests. This abandonment made Kurds as the target of Russian and Assad attacks as it had abandoned Cambodia and South Vietnam in 19970s.
In 2019, Donald Trump brutally betrayed them by allowing Turkey to attack and killed tens of thousands of Kurds to prevent the Kurds in Syria from collaborating with the Kurds in Turkey. For the United States, the Kurds are stateless and weak, but can be used to achieve U.S political objectives. But for Turkey, the United States sees it as a major power and can jeopardize its expansion of controlling over the Mediterranean and the Middle East if US upset the Turkey. The Kurds have no choice but to expect the United States recognize for independence, and they always end up with the pain of repeated deception. America in this sense is not different from what Cao Cao said, “Only the strong that have the right to speak of virtue, while the weak will be abandoned.”
In the 1970s, the United States abandoned Cambodia and South Vietnam, which felt into the hands of the Communists, the result were the brutal massacre. In the same 1970s, the United States also betrayed Chiang Kai-shek, shifting from a close ally to the declaration of recognizing Zhang Kai-shek’s enemy, Mao Zedong. In addition, the United States even took out Chiang Kai-shek’s chair for Mao Zedong and declared, “From now on, there will be no Chiang Kai-shek, only China.” When the Soviet Union collapsed and agreed to disband the Warsaw Pact, Soviet leaders expected the United States to agree to disband NATO as well. Instead, the United States is trying to increase NATO membership and push NATO borders closer to Russia to ensure that Russia will not be able to recover. This is not different from Cao Cao who promised with Liu Chong that he agreed to let Liu Chong hold the position for a lifetime and continue for generations. Suddenly, within a few days, Cao Cao sent him to detain in the capital, Xi’an, with the King.
At the end of the 18th century, France was the strongest American supporter in the war against Britain for more than 15 years for independence. France even signed with the United States the so-called Treaty of Alliance to protect the United States from British attacks. More than a year later, Britain returned to attack France after the United States gained independence. In response to a request for help from France, the United States said, “The United States cannot abandon national interests or put the country in such a dangerous situation to show gratitude or be morally responsible.” Nearly 20 years later, the United States and Britain settled tensions and signed an agreement to increase trade between the two countries in 1794, known as the Jay Treaty. The treaty put France at a disadvantage which triggered France to decide to attack the US cargo ship. Once again, the United States joined hands with Britain to attack France fiercely. Suddenly, in 1956, during the Suez Canal Crisis, the United States tried to expand its influence over France and Britain in the region. This time, both France and Britain were once again betrayed by the United States for the vast oil in the Middle East. More than four years later, US President Jimmy Carter has strongly threatened France and Britain: “Any country that dares to undermine US interests in the region, the United States will take the necessary means, including the using of weapons.”
In Africa, the United States betrayed Morocco, the first country to recognize American independence and a supporter of the United States in the Cold War, and regularly organized naval exercises to expand US power, known as “exercises of African Lion”. The United States has now recognized Morocco’s enemies and pushed the country into a dangerous position. In Latin America, the United States has betrayed the trust of Venezuela and Costa Rica, countries that have fully supported the United States on almost every issue. The United States backed Britain in the Falkland dispute between Argentina and Britain. Latin America, especially Venezuela, was a supporter of Argentina and sought the supporting from many other countries, including the United States. But in the end, the United States declared its support for Britain and abandoned them in the conflict. Venezuelan embassy officials then mocked the United States, saying, “The United States has chosen a stepmother and abandoned her brothers.”
In international politics, national security, interests and power are the most important factors that motivate each country to give up, betray its promises and deceive each other. For politician and political philosopher, Machiavelli believed that the responsibilities of a leader are the interests and destiny of the nation and its people. Therefore, whatever method is used, as long as it can maintain the interests and security for the nation and the people, it is right. This political view is in line with Cao Cao’s political view that he is willing to betray the people of the world, but the people of the world can never betray himself. In order to expand the territory, Cao Cao betrayed friends, betrayed enemies, wrote fake royal messages, and even issued royal messages on behalf of the king, deceived and lied to the warlords to stab each other for his own benefit. In the history of American power-building, too, it has relied on strategy, ingenuity, and many lies and deceptions, and the oppression and exploitation of many nations to make US as strong as it is today. This is a fact in international politics that you absolutely must be clear about. Friends, enemies, abandonment, oppressing or aggressing depend on interests and circumstances. Through all these lessons, we cannot give the destiny of the nation and the people to the promises of any country because they don’t love us more than love their country. On the other hand, the political agreement is written by hand, erased by foot, written today, erased tomorrow. Only by power, the promises and the national interest can be respected and served.
