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THE PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS
as a dagger in the back at the crucial hour when Germany had failed in the Battle of Verdun and was suffering defeat along the Somme sector of the Western Front. With the Treaty of Versailles a comprehensive maṇḍala policy was inaugurated by France to hold the crushed enemy in check. A ring of Slavic powers, from Poland and Czechoslovakia to Romania and Yugoslavia, was brought into being, threatening the rear of Germany and what was left of Austria. The new allies were provided with loans for armament and development. To which the reply of Germany was the Rapallo Treaty, in 1922, with Russia-a natural ally now, to the rear of Poland and Czechoslovakia.
Following the rise of the Nazis to power, there came a quick series of clever moves on the mandala chessboard, which ended in a total breakdown of the subtle structure that had been designed to guarantee France's hegemony on the continent. The moment Poland agreed to sign the ten-year non-aggression pact. in 1933, the ring was virtually undone. Step by step, then, the Eastern allies of France became estranged, and at last even Belgium withdrew from the plan for immediate and automatic cooperation with France against Germany. And so all was ripe for the new break for power.
The next arrangement of the mandala will make itself apparent in due time.
6.
The Seven Ways to Approach a Neighbor
Niti, the Sanskrit term for policy, means, literally, "proper conduct." The policy of the king sets the outstanding model in the community for successful conduct amidst the perils of the
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