"The word appeasement has been almost unspeakable since 1938, when it became the specific label for the acceptance by Britain and France of Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia. Yet the root meaning of the term points to what all good government does most of the time, namely, accepting the sacrifice of what would be ideally desirable rather than fight a war about it. This approach is agreed by all to be right in every case where such a sacrifice works and it is possible to avoid hostilities."
--John Howard Yoder, in Nevertheless
Let's go further to point out that merely talking to your enemies can in very few instances constitute "appeasement."
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I think we saw the weakness of the anti-appeasement argument the other night on Hardball, of all places, when radio show host Kevin James admitted he didn't know what Chamberlain did. He was critical of "appeasement" but couldn't even define it.
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