Author: Harris & Ewing
Machiavelli was right, the Realpolitik is power.
From Wikipedia: “George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was known best as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War on which he later reversed himself.”
Here is a fragment from his top secret Review of Current Trends U.S. Foreign Policy (February 24, 1948):
“…we have about 50% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. 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 without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction.”
From Wikipedia: “Soon after his concepts had become U.S. policy, Kennan began to criticize the foreign policies that he had seemingly helped begin. Subsequently, prior to the end of 1948, Kennan became confident that positive dialogue could commence with the Soviet government. His proposals were discounted by the Truman administration and Kennan’s influence was marginalized, particularly after Dean Acheson was appointed Secretary of State in 1949. Soon thereafter, U.S. Cold War strategy assumed a more assertive and militaristic quality, causing Kennan to lament about what he believed was an abrogation of his previous assessments.”
I think it is even worse today. I hope I am wrong.
She is right. One never knows.
In the street, a woman was bitterly crying. A passerby had a pity on her and asked, “What’s happened?”
“My purse was stolen,” she answered sobbing, “with all my money in it.”
A man felt sorry for the woman and gave her some money. The woman thanked him a lot, then asked:
“Will you give me my purse back too?”
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