Comments on: Making History

By: 398cce4

398cce4 — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 17:38:05 +0000

398cce4

efacd28f804fe78c7b66f731ecfe209b f0a9b0e5e118b.

By: Dan Hardie

Dan Hardie — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 13:45:58 +0000

‘Like Winston Churchill, he intends to ensure that history is kind to him by writing it.’ There was an awful lot wrong with Churchill, as a man, politician and writer, but comparing him in any sense to Kissinger is frankly ridiculous. Anyone who has seriously studied World War 2 will agree that Churchill’s memoirs, in sharp distinction to Kissinger’s, contain much valuable revelation of the truth. Not only that, but you betray your ignorance of what Churchill actually said: he never claimed to ‘ensure that history is kind to him by writing it’. You’ve clearly got a very muddled recollection of a typical, and rather good, Churchill joke: ‘The judgement of history upon Stanley Baldwin will be harsh and heavy. I know this. (Theatrical pause). Because I will write the history.’ Embarrassing error, rather as if one were to describe Dean Swift as ‘the Irish author and advocate of child-cannibalism’.

By: andrew

andrew — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 07:35:18 +0000

and also possibly john von neumann (strangelove)

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 09:42:45 +0000

Anyone see Teller’s interview in “The Atomic Bomb” movie? God, I hate(d) that man. I’ve always been sure that he was the model for Strangelove. And I’m think General Turgidson was Curtis LeMay.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 04:02:46 +0000

Elaine, Kissinger was largely unknown in 1963-64 around the time of Dr. Strangelove. The character is largely believed to be based on either Edward Teller, Werner Von Braun or a combination of the two.

By: Elaine Supkis

Elaine Supkis — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 01:43:08 +0000

Kissinger loved playing Dr. Strangelove.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 21:55:01 +0000

Least he didn’t wind up chair of the 9/11 commission. Get Your War On has more. (Although as Chun would no doubt point out if not preempted, the answers to “Does Bush even know who these motherfuckers are? Doesn’t he get suspicious when he sees Kissinger and Poindexter licking the blood off each others’ hands? are probably Yes and Why would he?)

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 21:03:11 +0000

I think that it's also important to include the role that the National Security Archives is playing in terms of setting the accurate historical record on Kissinger. They are essentially hoisting him by his own petard using declassified documents. This was the basis for the book that Maxwell reviewed and about which Rogers and Kissinger got their knickers in a twist. They've recently released transcripts of telephone calls Kissinger made regarding Chile and cables that effectively show him giving a green light to the Argentine junta to commit acts of torture and murder while lying to the US ambassador to Argentina about what he told the Argentine Foreign Minister. The historical record on Kissinger is a work on progress and I'm certain that the final result will present an image that nothing will be able to burnish.

By: chun the unavoidable

chun the unavoidable — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 20:05:34 +0000

If I were still blogging, I’d be blogging about this: http://www.maydaymystery.org

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 20:02:17 +0000

Yeh. I wasn’t disagreeing with you, Henry (sorry, I didn’t make that clear!), just…just ranting, I guess.

By: Henry

Henry — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 19:55:15 +0000

Hitchens may refuse to acknowledge, but he’s done admirable work in bringing the scandal of Kissinger’s reputation as a ‘statesman’ to more attention. It is disgusting the way American amnesia about history has allowed HK to become a (very highly-paid) talking head and bottomless source of pseudo-gravitas. Agreed – the words “very slightly more complicated” were chosen carefully. Chun – you were renouncing the blogosphere and all its works, nicht wahr ? Recanting?

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 19:34:57 +0000

Hitchens may refuse to acknowledge, but he’s done admirable work in bringing the scandal of Kissinger’s reputation as a ‘statesman’ to more attention. It is disgusting the way American amnesia about history has allowed HK to become a (very highly-paid) talking head and bottomless source of pseudo-gravitas.

By: chun the unavoidable

chun the unavoidable — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 19:25:43 +0000

Surprised? Oh my.