Balanced Triangles Between Countries
Recently, North Korea and the US government have had an increasingly negative relationship and many people believe that military action is possible. This issue of course does not only affect North Korea and the US, but all the countries that have any kind of relationship with them. This relates to the concept of Structural Balance in graphs, because we can see many unbalanced triangles in the network of countries involved in this conflict.
Angela Merkel, for example, is encouraging diplomacy in this crisis, but Germany does not have a particularly positive relationship with either the US government or the North Korean government. This is an example of an unbalanced triangle. If the US and North Korea do not reach a diplomatic solution, it is possible that Germany will have to choose a side in the conflict, which would balance the triangle between the three countries. The triangle between Russia, the US, and North Korea is similar. Russia recently voted at the UN Security Council for stronger sanctions against Pyongyang, but their relationship with the US, particularly Donald Trump, is worsening as well. Vladimir I. Batyuk, of the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies in Moscow, predicts that if the US takes military action in this conflict, Russia will balance the triangle by ending their tentative solidarity with the US, essentially taking North Korea’s side. This would balance the triangle between the three countries.