[PEN-L:1612] Re: Re: George Kennan

[Brad De Long <delong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>As far as Chomsky's irony is concerned, it may be the case that there was
>none intended here. All the Vietnam era doves were the political progeny of
>Kennan, after all, whose "pragmatic" approach to foreign affairs would be
>distinguished from the "ideological" approach of John Foster Dulles.

Actually there were three sides: those who believed that Communism was from
the Devil and needed to be rolled back, those who believed that U.S.
foreign policy should be made with a realistic view of U.S. national
interests, and those who believed that democracy, human rights, and
economic development should be at the core of U.S. foreign policy.

What people like Dulles--and Kennan--and Kissinger--and Chomsky--share is a
common desire to deny that people on the third side existed, or had any
influence on policy...


Brad DeLong