Pat Buchanan writes a column this week that I think offers very little in terms of substance, but he does make a comment that I think is worth thinking about. I would say, however, that Buchanan comes across as a "realist
" and Kissinger, whom he quotes, a "neo-realist
" and what he describes seems to be very much in line with that ideology:In the last half-century, how many others who cast their lot with us have we abandoned as "corrupt and dictatorial" when they started to lose their grip? Ngo Dinh Diem, Gen. Thieu and Marshal Ky, Lon Nol, Chiang Kai-shek, Marcos, the shah, Somoza, Pinochet – the list goes on.
When we needed them, they were hailed as America's great friends. When they needed us, we abandoned them in the name of our rediscovered democratic values.
"In this world, it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States," said Henry Kissinger, "but to be a friend is fatal."
