The big news today was the release of British government documents detailing Nixon's threat to "sieze oil fields in the Middle East in response to the OPEC oil embargo in 1973.
I was suprised that this was, in fact, news. Kissinger, his national security advisor, had threated to use force in 1971 in support of Israel and to counter Soviet influence. According to Richard Reeves, in his biography of Nixon, President Nixon, Alone in the White House, the administration eyed the region carefully as the next domino of the Cold War. In September 1970, "[o]n the day the last Americans left Cambodia, the administration's 'senior official,' Henry Kissinger, held a backgrounder at the White House telling reporters that Southeast Asia was no longer the nation's main foreign policy problem. The Middle East was. The rationale for that statement, spread without attribution in newspapers and on television, was direct Soviet involvement in equipping and training the armed forces of the Arab countries surrounding Israel. The American concern, Kissinger said, was no longer the sovereignty and survival of Israel but fear that Moscow was radicalizing Arab governments, particularly those of Egypt and Syria, and might be attempting to establish control over the region's oil producing countries, including American allies Saudi Arabia and Iran. The senior official went so far as to say the goal of United States policy was to 'expel' Soviets from Egypt."
Turns out Kissinger was ahead of himself and Nixon had to "clarify" Kissinger's remark, saying "expel" didn't imply the use of force (so that's where Bush learned the value of changing the definitions of words). But that certainly was the impression his administration wanted to give. Reeve's continues, "'They're testing us' was the line that Nixon and Kissinger invariably used in private in discussing the Soviet Union. The President believed that the leaders of the communist world would continually press at any point where they thought the United States might be vulnerable -- 'soft' was Nixon's word...'Being belligerent is beside the point,' he said during a July meeting about missile systems. 'The Russians, simply and only, understand conviction and strength.'"
And Nixon had always extolled the value of scaring your oppenents by your potential unpredictability in the use of massive force. The so-called "Madman Theory." In '69 he considered dropping a nuclear bomb on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Not unlike the Bush admin's view of the practicality of nuclear weapons.
Krugman's right, of course, the dems shouldn't be scripting Karl Roves's commercials for the general election. But Lieberman's gone unhinged during this campaign and Kerry is watching a lot of money, time, and expectations drifting away to a guy he thinks is an unmitigated disaster. And Dean leaves himself open to attacks with his loose tongue. I mean, how can you not scream when you hear the man saying something like this?
Repeat after me, Howard: "I want bin Laden's head on a stake. Now." Say that over and over, Howard. Let's get the big themes right the first time, without having to go back and "clarify."
And speaking of trials for mass murderers, George Packer, in the New Yorker, explains how Saddam's trial will not bring "closure" to Iraqis. Quite the opposite, as Saddam was Iraq and Iraq Saddam.
Liberal Oasis reminds us that, when it comes to special prosecutors, past results are no guarantee of future performance.
And like a voice in wilderness, E.J. Dionne pays attention to a class of people to whom no one else in the presidential campaign -- Democrat and certainly not Bush -- will.
Meanwhile, Chuck E. Cheese -- a place, mercifully, I've never experienced -- is so unrelentingly painful it's leading to a crime wave in certain parts of the country.
*****
Okay, I don't know where I've been. Will Carroll has an excellent baseball (primarily) blog that I've just been led to (did the Yanks sign Tony Clark? What's up with Vlad?). I say "primarily," because his purview seems pretty wide. For instance, he pointed me to a really wild piece of information -- artificial intelligence constructs that run away
I was suprised that this was, in fact, news. Kissinger, his national security advisor, had threated to use force in 1971 in support of Israel and to counter Soviet influence. According to Richard Reeves, in his biography of Nixon, President Nixon, Alone in the White House, the administration eyed the region carefully as the next domino of the Cold War. In September 1970, "[o]n the day the last Americans left Cambodia, the administration's 'senior official,' Henry Kissinger, held a backgrounder at the White House telling reporters that Southeast Asia was no longer the nation's main foreign policy problem. The Middle East was. The rationale for that statement, spread without attribution in newspapers and on television, was direct Soviet involvement in equipping and training the armed forces of the Arab countries surrounding Israel. The American concern, Kissinger said, was no longer the sovereignty and survival of Israel but fear that Moscow was radicalizing Arab governments, particularly those of Egypt and Syria, and might be attempting to establish control over the region's oil producing countries, including American allies Saudi Arabia and Iran. The senior official went so far as to say the goal of United States policy was to 'expel' Soviets from Egypt."
Turns out Kissinger was ahead of himself and Nixon had to "clarify" Kissinger's remark, saying "expel" didn't imply the use of force (so that's where Bush learned the value of changing the definitions of words). But that certainly was the impression his administration wanted to give. Reeve's continues, "'They're testing us' was the line that Nixon and Kissinger invariably used in private in discussing the Soviet Union. The President believed that the leaders of the communist world would continually press at any point where they thought the United States might be vulnerable -- 'soft' was Nixon's word...'Being belligerent is beside the point,' he said during a July meeting about missile systems. 'The Russians, simply and only, understand conviction and strength.'"
And Nixon had always extolled the value of scaring your oppenents by your potential unpredictability in the use of massive force. The so-called "Madman Theory." In '69 he considered dropping a nuclear bomb on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Not unlike the Bush admin's view of the practicality of nuclear weapons.
Krugman's right, of course, the dems shouldn't be scripting Karl Roves's commercials for the general election. But Lieberman's gone unhinged during this campaign and Kerry is watching a lot of money, time, and expectations drifting away to a guy he thinks is an unmitigated disaster. And Dean leaves himself open to attacks with his loose tongue. I mean, how can you not scream when you hear the man saying something like this?
Repeat after me, Howard: "I want bin Laden's head on a stake. Now." Say that over and over, Howard. Let's get the big themes right the first time, without having to go back and "clarify."
And speaking of trials for mass murderers, George Packer, in the New Yorker, explains how Saddam's trial will not bring "closure" to Iraqis. Quite the opposite, as Saddam was Iraq and Iraq Saddam.
Liberal Oasis reminds us that, when it comes to special prosecutors, past results are no guarantee of future performance.
And like a voice in wilderness, E.J. Dionne pays attention to a class of people to whom no one else in the presidential campaign -- Democrat and certainly not Bush -- will.
Meanwhile, Chuck E. Cheese -- a place, mercifully, I've never experienced -- is so unrelentingly painful it's leading to a crime wave in certain parts of the country.
*****
Okay, I don't know where I've been. Will Carroll has an excellent baseball (primarily) blog that I've just been led to (did the Yanks sign Tony Clark? What's up with Vlad?). I say "primarily," because his purview seems pretty wide. For instance, he pointed me to a really wild piece of information -- artificial intelligence constructs that run away
posted by John at 7:20 PM
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