Lessons from the Cold War


A noted Cold War historian revises his opinions
Another one to keep in mind. Rich Lowry reviews John Lewis Gaddis' new book.

''They used to the utmost,'' he writes, ''their strengths as individuals: their personal character, their perseverance in the face of adversity, their fearlessness and frankness, but above all their dramatic skill, not only in conveying these qualities to millions of other people, but also in persuading those millions themselves to embrace those qualities.''
   
When the might of the rival superpowers was measured in material terms - how many missiles, with how much throw-weight - they realized the power of ''a moral and spiritual critique of Marxism-Leninism.'' When stability had come to be valued above all, they sought change. When the truth - most importantly about the nature of the Soviet Union system itself- had become obscured, they spoke it.
   
Gaddis quotes Thatcher: ''I had long understood that detente had been ruthlessly used by the Soviets to exploit western weakness and disarray. I knew the beast.'' Gaddis comments, ''Not since Churchill had a British leader used language in this way: suddenly words, not euphemisms, were being used again to speak truths, not platitudes.''
   
Bush looks at the absurdity of a Middle East blotted with dictatorships, and of a great religion producing monstrous suicide bombers, and dares to try to create something better. He realizes the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of the status quo in the Middle East and in the precincts of Islam that tolerate mass murder, and says so unapologetically. This doesn't make him the next Reagan or Thatcher by any means, but he has some of their vision and fearlessness.

The book sounds interesting, but there is a larger point here.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Sun - January 22, 2006 at 04:40 AM  Tag


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Random selections from NeoWayland's library


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