Recognizing your Enemy

In the world of diplomacy, modern states have this intriguing approach of officially refusing to even recognize the existence of their enemies.  I don't know how far back this trend goes in history, or where it started, but it is being applied to current conflicts with increasing frequency.

Most of the Arab countries in the Middle East refuse to recognize Israel, or at least it's right to exist, which is not the same thing.  Refusing to recognize that it currently does exist seems like the most immature reaction possible.  In refusing to recognize an entity's right to exist, at least in that case they are acknowledging the reality that it does exist, and stating not that is doesn't exist, but that it shouldn't.  That is an equally disturbing, but much less irrational reaction to the situation.  In turn Israel refuses to recognize Palestine, and all negotiations have to be done through numerous intermediaries.  This a huge stumbling block to diplomacy.  Pretending someone doesn't exits doesn't make them any less real.

We now see the same thing happening in the US in reaction to the rise of ISIS.  The Whitehouse is the only entity on the globe still calling it ISIL, because the name "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" calls attention to the administration's two biggest foreign policy failures, in Syria and Iraq.  The US government does at least acknowledge that the group calling itself ISIS does exist, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is Islamic, and that it is a state.  There does seem to be some grounds for not labeling them a state, but they do control their own territory.  If they are not a state, we don't have to declare war on them before attacking them, which seems like a political technicality.

Part of the issue is coming to terms with the fact that we are at war, whether we like it or not.  They are attacking us, regardless of whether or not we choose to defend ourselves or strike back.  Refusing to recognize that fact only makes the problem worse, since they continue relatively unchecked.

But it is not a traditional war, so many of the regular rules and standards don't apply.  We aren't facing uniformed combatants, and they have no state of citizens to defend.  They appear to have no honor, not hesitating to take advantage of the traditional rules of war, by hiding in hospitals, faking surrenders, using human shields, and all sorts of other atrocities with no regard for the consequences to themselves of others.  It basically begs the question: “Can they even be defeated by civilized means?”  But not recognizing them, and the threat that they present to peace and freedom, does not in any way diminish that threat.

In the same way, many people today, both inside and outside the church, refuse to recognize the existence of Satan.  He is out there, whether you believe it or not.  And even those who do believe he exists don't always recognize him at work.  He is the enemy, and he wants to destroy us whether we recognize it or not.