Both nations were exhausted from war (Vietnam, clashes on the Soviet border) and domestic strife (antiwar protests in Nixon's case, the Cultural Revolution in Mao's).
Of course, around the globe, we will continue to be confronted with nations who reject these lessons of history, places where civil strife, border disputes, and sectarian wars bring about terrorist enclaves and humanitarian disasters.
Bahrain, whose population of about 500,000 citizens and 200,000 expatriates, is two-thirds Shiite, faced sectarian strife bordering on civil war a decade ago.
During the Six Dynasties period (220 589 ce), which followed the dissolution of the Han dynasty, China was rent by internal strife and border wars.
Oil wars, border conflicts, and ethnic strife are the threads that remain.
1980: Iraq invades Iran after a long history of border disputes and ethnic strife; America publicly maintains neutrality but actively supports Saddam Hussein.
1976: Syria invades Lebanon after a long history of border disputes and ethnic strife, occupying the country for almost 25 years.
In repurposing these nails, I am suggesting the displacement that has resulted from civil strife and border disputes in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta region and Jos in central Nigeria.
1967: Israel seizes territory from Arab neighbors after a long history of border disputes and ethnic strife; America, bogged down in Vietnam, publicly maintains neutrality but privately supports Israel.
