Word: realpolitikers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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With the demise of the Cold War, visions of an ideologically-based foreign policy have faded into realpolitik understandings that it is trade which dominates the dealings of international diplomacy. The starkness of our material world in itself isn't such a bad thing. But it is somewhat disheartening to see the Secretary of State promoting open societies only to the extent that they open markets...
...long as Clinton's in charge, we'll be all right. He's learned his Kissinger--realpolitik or no politik. Think about all the headaches we might have encountered in Bosnia had we let ourselves be drawn in by genocide. What would have happened in Somalia had we not pulled out when our boys started getting fired at? Just imagine what conflicts we could have had with China had we held human rights in higher esteem than Sino-American trade. Or if we had pushed the envelope with Russian President Boris Yeltsin on his advances in Chechnya...
...what historical movies have taught us over the years. What you need in this situation is world-class villainy, somebody full of wicked surprise to break up the banalities. This Braveheart lacks, though not for want of trying by Patrick McGoohan. As the English King, Edward Longshanks, he sneers realpolitik as well as George Sanders, Basil Rathbone or Henry Kissinger ever did. But he's not around as much as he should be-especially compared with Tim Roth's evil Energizer Bunny, who powers Rob Roy with his capering snottiness...
Nixon applied the realpolitik which Henry Kissinger '50 preached in foreign policy matters against his enemies at home. The "bunker mentality" of the Nixon White house was reinforced by a nexus of illegal espionage and sabotage operations against citizens on Nixon's "Enemies List." When Daniel Ellsberg '52 released the Pentagon Papers, Nixon's men bugged his psychiatrist's office to "neutralize" him. Where other presidents might have settled for damage control, Nixon, again, broke...
...Diplomacy (Simon & Schuster; 912 pages; $35), a sweeping portrayal of historical forces that begins with Cardinal Richelieu and ends with the challenges facing the world today, Kissinger makes the most forceful case by any American statesman since Theodore Roosevelt for the role of realism and its Prussian-accented cousin realpolitik in international affairs. Just as Kennan's odd admixture of romanticism and realism helped shape American attitudes at the outset of the cold war, Kissinger's emphasis on national interests rather than moral sentiments defines a framework for ^ dealing with the multipolar world now emerging. He has produced...