The body is cold now: Michael Walsh, on the foreign policy legacy of George H.W. Bush.
Bush has been praised posthumously for his “handling” of the collapse of Communism, but the truth is, he and his secretary of state, James A. Baker III, completely mishandled it in the years to come. Even as the USSR itself died on Christmas Day 1991, the U.S. had already failed in taking advantage of the political and economic situation in Eastern Europe: instead of swooping in with an initiative that would have made the Marshall Plan look niggardly by comparison, we instead left the region to the tender ministrations of capitalistic “advisors” such as George Soros who, like Tammany’s George Washington Plunkitt, “seen his opportunities and took ’em.”
There is no shortage of money in the world. Capital markets are very flexible. Eastern Europe then as now didnt need US gov money.
H. W. Bush, who served in the second part of delusional Wilson’s First World War, under his Secretary of The Navy, FDR, who had to finish off Ludendorff and Hitler. So having been in that, WW(part)2, seeing part 1 of the still unfinished Korean War( Wilson’s unUnited Nations, again ), having seen the US deep state fk up, but make good pensions in Vietnam, Bush just had to involve America in Iraq, half way.
What a idiot. Although, again, Washington deep state prospered.
paul, there is a huge difference between “money supply” and guidance. And if you put money into a ‘project” you have bought the right to guide how it is used. S Korea, Germany, and Japan are prime examples.
Right. The Marshall Plan-$12 billion (nearly $100 billion in 2016 US dollars)
OT but if you want to read some good books about WWII or war period, John Keegan is a good start.
His 1982 Six Armies In Normandy is a classic. The brilliant George Marshall played a huge role in the planning and execution of the war and his influence extended into the post war period. Enlightened self-interest can work but Bush was too dumb to recognize its worth.
Would it really have made much difference? I suspect it would have led to increased resentment. And, frankly, I didn’t want then and don’t want now my hard earned tax dollars spent in that EU sh!thole. I’m always hearing about the brilliant German industrial machine. So, cough up, suckers.
and here we are today with communists in control in both the U.S. and Canada. what a freaking waste.
Walsh is right.
Old white guy, well, at least Marxists. The Frankfurt School quietly did their thing.
Soros basically controls our government through Butts. Apparently Trudeau met with him twice. Why? To receive instructions?
Collectivists must tell themselves they’re wiser than the individualists as they look at the “big picture,” aka their political power.
It’s so difficult though having to “connect” with people of lower intelligence.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/06/sen_hirono_democrats_have_a_hard_time_connecting_with_people_because_of_how_smart_we_are.html
Better to bludgeon them. Actually addressing contrary arguments is verboten.
Send in the angry, violent do-gooders to make the point when insisting deplorables accept their wisdom and vote incorrectly.
They’re the problem as Donnie Deutsch says, so deserve ………
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/06/22/msnbcs_donny_deutsch_if_you_vote_for_trump_you_are_ripping_children_from_parents_arms.html
My favourite: those appealing to their worst instincts are afraid of reason, that’s why lefties must shut up people with talking over points, harassment and violence while using the state apparatus to crush opposition. They have to because they don’t want their country to end up like Nazi Germany.
Is there any doubt why Marxism and it’s mini-me, progressivism, will not brook discussion, dissension or disagreement?
One of the key flaws in ghwb and his administration was naivety
“instead of swooping in with an initiative that would have made the Marshall Plan look niggardly by comparison, we instead left the region to the tender ministrations of capitalistic “advisors” such as George Soros who, like Tammany’s George Washington Plunkitt, “seen his opportunities and took ’em.””
Thank God. The last thing those countries need is Washington’s control. The Baltic countries did quite fine without it. Of course he couldn’t leave off without a vague swipe at successful capitalist George Soros. Must be jealousy.
HW’s mistake was Desert Storm.
“The Baltic countries did quite fine without it.” Keep your day job, you’ll never make it as a comedian.
Oh boy I can’t wait to hear the highly-detailed explanation of how I was wrong [holds breath]
Glad to see that Time’s Music Critic Michael Walsh has weighed in to set us all straight on his important contribution to the historic fall of Communism.