https://www.spectator.com.au/2020/09/the-return-of-the-blob/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2020/09/t... The notion of "the Blob" as a bunch of would-be Kennans, supplying the expertise needed to make the government work, is completely out of touch with reality & certainly inconsistent with the actions of the foreign policy establishment over the last 40 yrs
Ironic that this was written for the Spectator Australia. Ask any Australian about America& #39;s Kennan-like restraint when the CIA played a key role in undermining the Gough Whitlam government. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence">https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...
Kaplan& #39;s article evokes this monstrosity from Eugene Robinson a few years ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/god-bless-the-deep-state/2018/07/19/de36bd00-8b8a-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...
As an aside, George Kennan himself would not understand the supposed "realism" imputed to him by Kaplan. In 1997, he wrote an Op-Ed in the NY Times opposing NATO& #39;s eastward expansion:
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/politics/george-f-kennan-dies-at-101-leading-strategist-of-cold-war.html
Money">https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/1... quote. Kennan wrote that
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/politics/george-f-kennan-dies-at-101-leading-strategist-of-cold-war.html
Money">https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/1... quote. Kennan wrote that