Not that I necessarily agree or that I've had time to process but I think it's just absolutely marvelous that Kissinger is still around and still giving his thoughts on geopolitics. I'd say the same goes for Brzezinski, but I don't have anywhere near the same faible for him.
Kissinger goes on to give his policy prescription and it's worth reading. This is a fun little bit, though:
The West must understand that, to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country. Russian history began in what was called Kievan-Rus. The Russian religion spread from there. Ukraine has been part of Russia for centuries, and their histories were intertwined before then. Some of the most important battles for Russian freedom, starting with the Battle of Poltava in 1709 , were fought on Ukrainian soil. The Black Sea Fleet — Russia’s means of projecting power in the Mediterranean — is based by long-term lease in Sevastopol, in Crimea. Even such famed dissidents as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Joseph Brodsky insisted that Ukraine was an integral part of Russian history and, indeed, of Russia.
While Kissinger walks this back in his prescriptions, this sounds dangerously like Bibi's coalition* Israeli Economics Minister Naftali Bennett calling the West Bank (a/k/a "Judea and Samaria") the "heartland" of Israel (a loathsome term I'm convinced came secretly packed in Jeremy Gimpel's luggage when he made Aliyah.)
*It would be deeply unfair to Finance Minister Yair Lapid or Justice Minister Tzipi Livni to be included in that statement. However, Avigdor Lieberman can cram it with walnuts.
- Anime
Welcome to the Alt-New-Land. We* hope to displace your worldview through ponderous ruminations, general blowhardery, replies to the people we read, and all other manner of prattling folderol. My name isn't Anime Bollocks, but that is what We** shall use for now. Expect a stream of consciousness that would do Faulkner proud, and you, dear Reader, are encouraged to reply in the comments.
The topics on my mind of late (and as usual) have been sabermetrics as applied to baseball, smark analysis of pro graps, general wonkery on domestic (American) political economy, law, rhetoric, non-monogamy, gastronomy, and the liberal Zionism from the perspective of the Diaspora. I skew Tory but I think that means something different in the United States in 2014 than what you'd might expect.
That's all I have to say for now, but expect more shortly.
- Anime
*Is it the royal we? No. There's more than one of us.
**This is the royal We.
