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subversion of the peace talks through NATO has been labeled a grand deception since Western
nations only claim to be interested in anti-war solutions.
A Prince Must Know How to Be Bad
Machiavelli famously asserted that for one to be considered a good ruler, he would at
some point have to learn to set aside moral concerns of honesty, transparency, kindness and
justice in order to ensure the stability of the nation. This idea seemed shocking to conventional
thinkers that associated leadership positions with traditional notions of nobility in leadership
bestowed upon the worthy by divine beings with the purpose of safeguarding the very virtues
that Machiavelli sought to write off. Machiavelli pointed out that the most accomplished leaders
were often those that had one point or another were willing to do whatever was necessary to keep
their positions of power and thereby indirectly maintaining the status quo in the nation
(Machiavelli, 2010).
In his argument, Machiavelli does not encourage leaders to actively or knowingly avoid
the moral path but admits that where necessary, the prince should be ready to act unethically.
Machiavelli argues that if a leader is given the option of sacrificing a small multitude of people
in order to preserve the wellbeing of a larger group, such a leader must be willing and able to
knowingly choose the unethical option and live with it. For instance, consider a case where a city
is about to be under siege by an invading army and the leader of this city is given the option of
retreating with his people to a fortress that is three days away. The people can only make it to the
fortress in time to avoid a massacre only if they leave behind the sick, disabled and pregnant
women who are not able to travel. Here, the leader should be able to sacrifice this group for the
greater good of the people in the city despite the fact that he knows that the morally correct thing
to do is to safeguard every human life under his charge.