September 30, 2022: Russian President Vladimir Putin on a screen on the Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert that marks the annexation of four areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops: Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in Central. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov / AFP) (photo by Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images)
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In these modern moments, We need a new X. We are not talking about Elon Musk’s social networking service, called former Twitter, but the author of the deep subsequent article published in 1947 in External affairs The magazine, which put the strategy to tackle the Soviet Union after World War II. The strategy came to summarize in one word: “Airmark”.
The article was one of the most important pieces in the publishing history. The author, George Kennan, was a foreign service employee and a deeply learned Russian expert who had long been placed at the Moscow Embassy. The bosses of the ministry ministry believed that it remains anonymous. Therefore, the “x” instead of its real name.
After the war, the US hoped that it could maintain friendly relations with the Soviet Union, an ally during the conflict. The Kremlin, however, soon dealt with a series of alarming aggressive actions. Despite the promises to the contrary, Communist governments were violently established in the eastern and central European countries from which he had expelled the occupation of the Nazi German armies. They refused to remove his forces from northern Iran and were maneuvering to control the narrow Dardanelles, a critical international floating road that divides the European and Asian turkey. It also controls powerful communist parties in France and Italy, which placed themselves to gain control of weak democratic governments and supported communist uprisings in Asia.
The Americans had assumed that as soon as the hostilities were over, we could withdraw our strengths from Europe and Asia and everyone would be well with the world.
Initially, Washington’s response to the Soviet Union’s moves was confusing and was uncertain how to respond. But two documents, both written by Kennan, led to what our Cold War strategy became. We will not go to the war to liberate the neighboring countries already controlled by the Soviet Union, but we were actively working to deal with Soviet advances elsewhere, including a huge break from American tradition, placing large and permanent military forces.
Kennan’s first player was a long cable at the Foreign Ministry, noting that Russia had a long history of aggression before the Communist Revolution. Communism was another medium that the Kremlin used to broaden its range. The extension was in the Kremlin DNA.
Kennan’s analysis was called “The Long Telegram” and began crystallizing the US government on how to deal with an aggressive Moscow.
To gain wider support for what would be a radical change in traditional US foreign policy and our role in the world, Kennan then wrote an article based on the long telegram of influence External affairs magazine.
The restraint was not just military. It included promoting prosperity by reducing trade barriers and other pre-development policies that would create conditions in which democratic ideas could proceed.
Today our world is as uncertain and confusing as the one we encountered in the late 1940s and we are clearly uncertain about how we move on. US policies were caricatures: we can turn terrorists who rule Iran into responsible world players! And abused: windmills can replace fossil fuels! Bad policies and ad hoc policies without reliable consistency that cause confidence. To make things worse, most leaders of advanced economies are surprisingly ignorant of how to create conditions for living prosperity.
There is no guidance today, such as restriction – and everything that once meant. It is time for the US to find a new X and a new guideline. A world in the loose ends is a world that is heading for a big problem.
