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In this year of our vainglorious buffoonish Lord Trump, it seems a quip from the old girl about another old bastard might be apt "In a book called Leaders, Nixon praises de Gaulle, from whom he learned two lessons. First, power accrues to the ruler whose actions are unpredictable. Although this tactic might work at a local level for the leader of a minor country, such a system of unexpectedness on the part of the emperor of the West could send what is known euphemistically as the Wrong Signal to the emperor of the East, in which case there would never be enough shovels to protect us from the subsequent nuclear rain... The second—more practical—lesson was in de Gaulle’s view that nations are nations, and while political systems come and go, national interests continue for millennia. Like every good and bad American, Nixon knows almost no history of any kind. But he was quick to pick up on the fact that the Russians and the Chinese each have a world view that has nothing at all to do with communism, or whatever happens to be the current official name for Heaven’s Mandate... Nixon proceeded to do the unexpected. He buried the hatchet with the Son of Heaven, Mao, by going to see him—as is proper for the Barbarian from beyond the Four Seas if he wishes to enjoy the patronage of the Lord of the Middle Kingdom. Then, from this position of strength, Nixon paid a call on the Czar of all the Russians, whose mouth, to say the least, was somewhat ajar at what Nixon had done in China." -- Best regards, Andrew Stewart _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
