Word: realpolitiker
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Along with Herodotus - hailed here as "a marker set down against the oblivion with which time threatens all human deeds" - and Thucydides, the earliest exponent of realpolitik, Burrow devotes the first third of his book to a long line of Greco-Roman historians. He goes on to discuss "the radical and pervasive" impact of the Bible on history - for example, in the writings of the 6th century French Bishop Gregory of Tours, whom he dubs "Trollope with blood." Equally intriguing is Burrow's discussion of the secular historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, a fabricator who claimed that his 12th century account...
...emerges from a period of uncertainty to lead his people to salvation. But in Pakistan, a land already ravaged by competing myths of religion and tribalism, it is clear that what this 19-year-old neophyte needs most is not another fable but a thorough initiation into realpolitik. In a crowded London hotel room today, he received his first lesson...
...What's more, Gadaffi is expected to finalize over $4.5 billion in business agreements above those worth $10 billion signed last summer. Still, Sarkozy insists his invitation goes beyond mere contracts. Instead, his aids say it represents Sarkozy's "realpolitik" of engaging and encouraging rogue regimes in places such as Iran, Syria and Libya to start acting more responsibly in exchange for greater respect within the international community. "If we don't embrace nations who take the road toward respectability, what do we say to those who take that road in the opposite direction?" asked Sarkozy in Lisbon. Other leaders...
History repeats itself not just because of short memories, but because of our instinctual self-centeredness. And since nations are but our own amplified selves, diplomacy, from America to India, triangulates for advantage first and asks questions later. Realpolitik, perfected and made honorable in modern times by the likes of Henry A. Kissinger ’50, is something that diplomats aspire to, not shirk from. There is ample evidence that such diplomacy often comes back to haunt its perpetrators–for example, the consequences of America’s abetment of the mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s...
However, India’s response trumped all realpolitik. On Oct. 1, it merely expressed “concern” over the situation, and the chief of Indian Army, General Deepak Kapoor told reporters, “We have a good relationship going with Myanmar and I am sure we will try and maintain that,” and that what happened in Burma was “an internal matter...