Courting new great power conflict in the twenty-first century involves the same dangers that it involved four decades ago when Kennan issued his warning.
Pace Massaro and so many others: if you play Russian roulette often enough, the probability that you will put a bullet in your own head approaches 1:1.
Charles: Agreed, we do not maintain the same opinions on everything for our entire lives. But, we also maintain the same opinions on many things for our entire life. Keenan did a lot of talking over his 101 years of life which ended on March 17, 2005, over 50 years after making the quoted opinion. Do you have any evidence that Keenan ever recanted his opinion? If so, when? And how many people suffered and died due to his policy position? Millions, I suggest died, more seriously injured. Did he ever apologize? Sanford
How does this supposed Kennan quote square with: “largely unsung hero” for his diligent efforts to ease the Cold War:
“We have about 50% of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships, which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity. To do so we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming and our attention will have to be concentrated on our immediate national objectives. We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democracy. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans the better.”
PPS 23, in 1948, was top secret. In PPS 23 the planners were talking to one another. To pacify the public about wars the planners still found it necessary, even to this day, like about Iraq, to trumpet idealistic slogans.
Like almost everyone who has ever lived (including yourself) he did not maintain the same opinions on everything for his entire life. He lived for another 50 years after this quote was written.
One can certainly wish that Bill Clinton had listened to Kennan and had not expanded NATO to include Poland and other members of the former Soviet bloc, instead of embarking, as he did embark, on a "crusade" to free eastern Europe, leading, among other things, to the current war between Russia and Ukraine. But it is unwise to romanticize Kennan. He "seriously" wished to deny the vote to blacks, women, and other untrustworthy types. He was a timid Nietzschean, who, when given actual authority, as ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and then Yugoslavia, immediately got himself declared persona non grata thanks to his big mouth.
Much like Pat Buchanan I find many of Kennan’s views on domestic politics to be reprehensible. But that’s a different question from his strategic acumen on foreign policy.
Who is romanticizing Kennan? And what do his views on other subjects have to do with his views on the subject of the Cold War and later NATO expansion?
Pace Massaro and so many others: if you play Russian roulette often enough, the probability that you will put a bullet in your own head approaches 1:1.
Charles: Agreed, we do not maintain the same opinions on everything for our entire lives. But, we also maintain the same opinions on many things for our entire life. Keenan did a lot of talking over his 101 years of life which ended on March 17, 2005, over 50 years after making the quoted opinion. Do you have any evidence that Keenan ever recanted his opinion? If so, when? And how many people suffered and died due to his policy position? Millions, I suggest died, more seriously injured. Did he ever apologize? Sanford
How does this supposed Kennan quote square with: “largely unsung hero” for his diligent efforts to ease the Cold War:
“We have about 50% of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships, which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity. To do so we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming and our attention will have to be concentrated on our immediate national objectives. We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democracy. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans the better.”
PPS 23, in 1948, was top secret. In PPS 23 the planners were talking to one another. To pacify the public about wars the planners still found it necessary, even to this day, like about Iraq, to trumpet idealistic slogans.
Like almost everyone who has ever lived (including yourself) he did not maintain the same opinions on everything for his entire life. He lived for another 50 years after this quote was written.
One can certainly wish that Bill Clinton had listened to Kennan and had not expanded NATO to include Poland and other members of the former Soviet bloc, instead of embarking, as he did embark, on a "crusade" to free eastern Europe, leading, among other things, to the current war between Russia and Ukraine. But it is unwise to romanticize Kennan. He "seriously" wished to deny the vote to blacks, women, and other untrustworthy types. He was a timid Nietzschean, who, when given actual authority, as ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and then Yugoslavia, immediately got himself declared persona non grata thanks to his big mouth.
Much like Pat Buchanan I find many of Kennan’s views on domestic politics to be reprehensible. But that’s a different question from his strategic acumen on foreign policy.
Who is romanticizing Kennan? And what do his views on other subjects have to do with his views on the subject of the Cold War and later NATO expansion?