THE SPINE JULY 31, 2007
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Nicholas Thompson tells us in today's Times that George Kennan's
famous "X" article in Foreign Affairs was completely misunderstood. By
everybody. Including, I suppose, President Truman. Kennan wanted "soft
power" but we gave the Soviets hard power. Still, we did win the Cold War,
didn't we?
Thompson's interest in Kennan's opinions is to project them onto the world
scene today. Poor Kennan, he's already dead two years; and, in the years
before he died at 101, he wasn't exactly clear in his thinking. And if
people couldn't grasp what he wrote in 1947 how could they grasp what he
mumbled since, let's say, the year 2000?
The robbing by Thompson of Kennan's grave is pilferage disguised as
homage. And who actually cares what Kennan thought? Is this what the op-ed page thinks is significant opinion? Thompson believes that we have to
spend "more time and money building up our Muslim allies." And just how do
we do that?
Frankly, I think selling advanced air weapons to Saudi Arabia will do more
to tilt the Arab balance than "democracy promotion." Whatever that means.
P.S.
By the way, if you want to read a devastating essay on George Kennan, one
of the certified gods of the twentieth century high-minded, take a look at
Henry Fairlie's article in TNR 30 years ago:
My interest is in what an old man of the establishment then
wants to do. He wants to achieve "a more workable
consensus behind our policy towards the Soviet
Union." When I hear the word "consensus," in such a
context, I reach for my water pistol. It is always the
conviction of the George F. Kennans, which seems to
grow stronger with their own debilitation, that a
consensus may somehow be manufactured to paste
over differences.
4 comments
Thanks for commenting on my NYT op-ed and for linking to it. I'm particularly glad you did so because I think all three of your major points are easily refuted by reading the piece closely. First, you allege in your opening paragraph that I'm lamenting that Kennan's advice wasn't followed in the Cold War. In fact, I write: "We do know that a militant foreign policy didn't lead to nuclear war and did, eventually, help bring about the collapse of Soviet communism." Your second point seems to be that I'm drawing heavily on the late George Kennan to support my argument. Not at all so. As I write: "Long called the man who defined our cold war policies, Kennan was probably containment's most consistent, and persistent, critic." As for his 2002 comments on the Iraq War, read the interview. He wasn't mumbling. In fact, he did a much better job anticipating what would happen than many of us under the age of 98 did: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/kennan.h tm. Your last point is the most complicated. How do we best support our Muslim allies? One way to start is to do what Kennan recommended in his letter to Lippmann,try to build up the "vigor and soundness of political life in the victim countries." That's not easy, and sometimes military aid is necessary: but not nearly to the extent we've focused on it in the past six years, as I think the study from CSIS makes clear.
- nicholasthompson
July 31, 2007 at 11:09pm
Thompson raises an excellent point here. During the Cold War we waged an intensive and sophisticated agitprop campaign involving support for European trade unions and for intelligent native European publications like Encounter in order to put pressure on the communist societies from within and without. When will we see a similar effort to rally and win over fence-sitting muslims around the world? As opposed to idiotic and cynical half-assed efforts like the Beers fiasco.
- teplukhin
August 1, 2007 at 2:52am
tough AND smart? For once
- teplukhin
August 1, 2007 at 2:53am
Mr Peretz, you claim 'who actually cares what Kennan thought'. Who actually cares what any of the chattering class think, except for the chattering class themselves? You, I am afraid, are not excluded from this. In any event, at various points in his career, many, many people have cared what Kennan thought, including secretaries of state and presidents -- not that you need the elementary history lesson, of course. One wonders what inspired this particularly unnecessary sideswipe at a man who is generally held in high regard.
- thufir
August 1, 2007 at 3:49am