MESSAGE
| DATE | 2010-01-23 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Neocons RETURN
|
On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 08:54:06PM -0500, Paul Charles Leddy wrote:
> Watch "Arguing the World", the movie.
>
> Good lead, thanks.
>
> Who was dumb enough to announce the death of neoconservatism? It rules
> the world. Duh.
>
I'll see you at Technight tomoorrow
Ruben
> On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 7:33 PM, Ruben Safir wrote:
> >
> >
> > Gee - I've been right here all along..
> >
> > http://www.newsweek.com/id/232053
> >
> > The Return of the Neocons
> > Neoconservatism was once deemed dead?'Buried in the sands of Iraq.'
> > But it persists, not just as the de facto foreign-policy plank of the
> > Republican Party but, its proponents assert, in Obama's unapologetic
> > embrace of American military might.
> >
> > By David Margolick | NEWSWEEK
> >
> > Published Jan 22, 2010
> >
> > From the magazine issue dated Feb 1, 2010
> >
> > For all his eminence?or maybe because of it?the funeral for
> > Irving Kristol this past September was an understated affair. Some
> > thought Dick Cheney might show up, but neither he nor any other
> > Republican leader did; it seemed almost ungrateful, given Kristol's
> > extraordinary contribution to the GOP?how he'd brought intellectual
> > legitimacy and heft to what he himself had once called "the stupid
> > party." None of the Republican congressional leadership was there, nor
> > any of the would-be candidates for 2012?not even Sarah Palin, whom
> > Kristol's ubiquitous son, Bill, had helped turn into a political
> > phenomenon.
> >
> > The assemblage of about 200 people wasn't exactly small, but in the
> > gargantuan sanctuary of Adas Israel Congregation, built at a
> > time?1951?when American Jews of Irving Kristol's generation
> > wanted to proclaim they'd finally arrived and planned to stick around
> > awhile, it was dwarfed by its surroundings; the burgundy back benches
> > were empty. Adas Israel is Washington's most powerful Conservative
> > congregation, the one to which every Israeli ambassador to the United
> > States in history has belonged. Instead of the usual parade of celebrity
> > eulogists, though, only two people?the rabbi and Bill
> > Kristol?spoke, and briefly at that. In 40 minutes or so it was over.
> >
> > But the strength of neoconservatism, the intellectual and political
> > "persuasion" (as he once called it) that Irving Kristol launched and
> > led, has never been in its numbers but in its firepower and ferocity.
> > And had the elder Kristol?whose shrouded coffin sat inconspicuously
> > below the stage, nestled between the American and Israeli flags?been
> > able to survey the crowd, he'd have been pleased. For filling the pews
> > were his progeny, not just biological but intellectual, and they were an
> > impressive lot.
> >
> > They came from the publications that neoconservatives either run, like
> > Bill Kristol's Weekly Standard, or work for, like The Washington Post
> > and The Wall Street Journal. Others came from the think tanks where
> > neocons congregate, particularly the American Enterprise Institute
> > (AEI). There were faces from the Iraq War, with which the neocons are
> > inextricably linked, like former deputy secretary of defense Paul
> > Wolfowitz (making a rare public appearance) and the former civilian
> > administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer. Charles Krauthammer, the impassioned
> > and highly influential neoconservative columnist at The Washington Post,
> > and the political scientist Francis Fukuyama (a rare lapsed and
> > repentant neocon) hadn't spoken to each other for several years?ever
> > since Fukuyama had taken exception to the roseate view of the Iraq War
> > Krauthammer had offered in the American Enterprise Institute's 2004
> > Irving Kristol Lecture?but Kristol's death had briefly brought them
> > back together, albeit in different parts of the synagogue. The more
> > traditional wing of the Republican Party, the one the neocons had
> > arguably routed, also paid homage: George Will, who'd come to view the
> > Iraq War as an enormous mistake, took his seat respectfully. In his
> > uncharacteristically apolitical, even gentle, eulogy, Bill Kristol
> > couldn't help but gloat over the proliferation of neocons: "scores,
> > legions?hordes they must seem to those who disapprove of them," he
> > said.
> >
> > Like Bill Kristol, some of those on hand had inherited their right-wing
> > beliefs rather than adopted them (as Irving Kristol, a longtime
> > Democrat, once had). Technically, there is nothing "neo" about
> > conservatives like Robert Kagan, the historian and another Washington
> > Post columnist, or John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary; each is a
> > son of one of neoconservatism's founding fathers. Indeed, no strain in
> > American politics is so dynastic. It is akin to the right-wing Likud
> > Party in Israel, whose religion and politics, world view, and succession
> > rituals the neocons often share. The definitions, and analogy, are
> > inexact, but both groups have recent ties to Europe and are haunted by
> > the Holocaust, which has left them feeling wounded, suspicious, and
> > sometimes bellicose, determined never again to be naive or to trust the
> > world's good intentions. Both spent decades in the po-litical wilderness
> > before miraculously acquiring power; both begat "princes" who defied the
> > normal generational tensions and allied themselves with their kingly
> > fathers. When Bill Kristol rose to praise Irving that morning, he was
> > really picking up his scepter.
> >
> > Had you Googled "neoconservative" and "death" that day, four days after
> > the 89-year-old Kristol expired, you'd have found lots on their
> > long-rumored?and for some, much-anticipated and -savored?demise.
> > On both the left and right, neoconservatism was deemed a spent force.
> > Its ideas, Foreign Policy magazine had pronounced, "lie buried in the
> > sands of Iraq."
> >
> > But obituaries can be premature. At the moment, in fact, the neocons
> > seem resurrected. One of their own, Frederick Kagan of AEI (Robert's
> > younger brother), helped turn around the war in Iraq by devising and
> > pushing for the surge there. More recent-ly, President Obama?whose
> > foreign--policy pronouncements (nuanced, multi-lateral, interdependent)
> > and style (low-key, self-critical, conciliatory, collegial) were a
> > repudiation of neoconservative assertiveness?has swung their way, or
> > so they believe. First, he's sending an additional 30,000 troops to
> > Afghanistan, nearly as many as leading neocons had sought. Then came his
> > Nobel Prize acceptance speech, which, with its acknowledgment of the
> > need for force, its nod to dissidents in Iran and elsewhere, and its
> > talk about good and evil, was surprisingly congenial.
> >
> >
> >
> > You can read the rest of it on line
> >
> > Ruben
> >
|
|
