In his second speech as Chancellor of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck declared that “The great questions of the day will be decided not by speeches and majority votes but by iron and blood”.

During the civil war in Syria, former US President Barack Obama and UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura both said there was no “military solution” and that the only way forward was through diplomacy. The war in Syria has wound down not through UN conferences and diplomacy but through “iron and blood”.

In the ongoing North Korean crisis, both Russia and China keep lecturing the US that the only solution is through negotiations. They should be telling that to the “rocket man”, Kim Jong Un. The only “negotiations” he respects are threats of iron and blood.