Nobody likes to be bullied. Nobody likes bullies. I have yet to come across someone who thinks Bullying is “cool”. Even bullies think it’s a bad thing to be bullied or to bully others.

Bullying is not confined, as it is usually thought or assumed, to the lower class. Who can forget that Mitt Romney, ex-governor of Massachusetts and two times (2008,2012)candidate for president, used to bully others? One of those incidents emerged in the 2012 presidential campaign which forced Mr. Romney to issue an apology to the victim.

It is interesting to note that the “bullying” behavior permeates every aspect of life, including, unfortunately, at the highest level in politics. The US government, irrespective of which party is in the White House, has always adopted a bullying attitude in foreign relations.

Suffice to take a short stroll to the past, during the Bush administration, when ultimatum, nothing other than a bullying attitude, was given to Saddam to comply or face the consequences of bombardments. Regardless of where one stands in political affiliation, it is not difficult to see or calculate the high cost of bullying other heads of state.

To a large extent, I ought to thank Mr. Snowden for opening the opportunity once again to put the US government foreign relation in display. As expected, the US government tried to bully China, now Russia into complying with its wishes. There is a bit of relief that Russian President Vladimir Putin categorically said NO to the US government.

It’s not because I want my government to be humiliated, defeated or embarrassed. No, not at all!

It’s because I want my government to learn to talk, to communicate, to practice diplomacy. Our government must learn to sit down with everybody, including enemies in order to find solutions.  We, as a nation, lose much when our government bullies other heads of states. We cannot take on the world, just because we have the best weapon systems, and the largest war arsenal. The world is getting smaller. It’s time for the US government to practice International Relations 101.

The bullying approach must end.  Thanks to Snowden for helping put it in display.