Phew. Finally finished “The Ghost At The Feast: America and The Collapse of World Order 1900-1941” by Robert Kagan -- like an extensive history course. Really amazing book. #bookstodon #theGhostAtTheFeast #robertKagan
I did not know that Robert Kagan's wife is Victoria Nuland. #history

“Above all, it would have required self-understanding, a recognition early on that they would not tolerate a shift in the balance of power in favor of global dictatorships and therefore should work consistently to ensure that the risks of such a shift were kept to a minimum”

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan
#bookstodon #theghostAtthefeast #robertkagan #history #pastisprologue

“from the global perspective, appeasement of “the bandit nations” anywhere only strengthened the forces of aggressive fascism everywhere.”

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan
#theGhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #pastIsPrologue #bookstodon #wwii #history

“What is America but millionaires, beauty queens, stupid records and Hollywood?”
—Adolf Hitler quoted in Compton, Swastika and the Eagle.

#TheGhostattheFeast
#RobertKagan #WWII #history #AmericanHistory #pastisprologue

I am loathe to quote Hitler, but this is too good—AND as President Joe Biden, said at his State of the Union speech: those who wish the United States ill should know "it's never ever a good bet to bet against America".

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 11, 1941

Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Maintaining Freedom of the Seas,” Fireside Chat #18, Sept.11, 1941 http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/_resources/images/msf/msfb0004

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan
#fdr #wwii #bookstodon #theGhostAtTheFeast #robertKagan #pastisprologue #roosevelt #history #americanHistory

‘Even if the United States faced no immediate threat of military attack, Roosevelt warned in his January 1940 State of the Union address, the world would be a “shabby and dangerous place to live in—yes, even for Americans to live in” if it were ruled “by force in the hands of a few.”’

#TheGhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #pastisprologue #isolationism
#history #fascism #MolotovRibbentrop #WWII #bookstodon

“I have a horrible feeling of seeing…a civilization dying even before its actual death….How delicate a fabric this thing we call modern civilization really is.”

Franklin Roosevelt close adviser, Adolf Berle, writing in his diary on occasion of the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact, August 1939—Berle, a year before, had regarded fears of Hitler’s intentions as overblown.

#TheGhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #pastisprologue #isolationism
#history #fascism #MolotovRibbentrop #WWII #bookstodon

“I have a horrible feeling of seeing…a civilization dying even before its actual death….How delicate a fabric this thing we call modern civilization really is.”

Franklin Roosevelt close adviser, Adolf Berle, writing in his diary on occasion of the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact, September 1939—Berle, a year before, had regarded fears of Hitler’s intentions as overblown.

#TheGhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #pastisprologue
#history #fascism

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan
#theGhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #americanhistory #fdr #pastisprologue #DefendDemocracy #bookstodon

#TheGhostattheFeast #RobertKagan
#bookstodon #history #tsEliot #ezraPound #pastisprologue

“These are not normal times; people are jumpy and very ready to run after strange gods.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Elihu Root in Elliott Roosevelt, ed., F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928–1945”

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan

#TheGhostattheFeast
#RobertKagan
#bookstodon #history #americanhistory #fdr

1933 could be 2023–it’s the same:

“Although cautious about challenging the democracies prematurely, Hitler could also be bold and opportunistic. He looked for weaknesses to exploit and early on perceived that the Western powers lacked the determination and coherence to defend their order.”

#TheGhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #pastIsPrologue #PutinIsHitler

“It was neither “feasible” nor “desirable” when the peace of the entire world was at stake and when the democracies were threatened by “autocratic governments backed by organized force.” The United States could never trust such a government or treat it as a friend.
#TheGhostattheFeast
#RobertKagan #WWI #April21917 #democracy

PM Llyod George to the House of Commons, Dec 1916: British response to Wilson settlement proposal: "..quoted from Abraham Lincoln’s speech to a war-weary nation in the summer of 1864: 'We accepted this war for an object, and a worthy object, and the war will end when that object is attained. Under God I hope it will never end until that time.'”

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan
#PastIsPrologue
#GhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #LlyodGeorge #WWI #WoodrowWilson #lincoln #Ukraine #bookstodon

“For six months I have talked about the struggle between Autocracy and Democracy, but do not see that I have made any great impression.”

Excerpt From
The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan

Robert Lansing, Secretary of State from June 24, 1915, until February 13, 1920.

"What's past is prologue"

#ThenAsNow #PastIsPrologue
#GhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #RobertLansing #WWI #WoodrowWilson

“Many had believed [..] that in the new age of interconnected economies and technological miracles “‘certain kinds of cruelty and violence could never occur on a large scale again.’”

This, referring to the atrocities of World War I.

Eerie. Different—but the same.

The Ghost at the Feast
Robert Kagan
#GhostAtTheFeast #RobertKagan #WWI #technology #cruelty #crueltyisthepoint

A Free World, If You Can Keep It
Ukraine and American Interests
By Robert Kagan | December 20, 2022 Foreign Affairs #ukraine #russia #robertkagan #foreignaffairs

https://reader.foreignaffairs.com/2022/12/20/a-free-world-if-you-can-keep-it/content.html

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/03/bionic-mosquito/jordan-peterson-interviews-a-warmonger/

#JordanPeterson Interviews a Warmonger
By #BionicMosquito

” #FrederickKagan is Robert’s brother. #RobertKagan is #VictoriaNuland’s husband. Frederick is married to Kimberly, president of the Institute for the Study of War. #DonaldKagan is the father of Frederick and Robert; the two of them wrote a book together: While #America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, #Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today (2000).”

#NeoCons #NeoConservatives #GrandStrategy #Ukraine #Russia

#RobertKagan , in the #WashingtonPost , reminds us why the US/NATO went into #Afghanistan , why they decided to keep forces there, how the Americans were always looking for an opportunity to pull out, a year or two down the road.

https://twitter.com/hiattf/status/1431002927448174592

#uspol