Representative Press Blog

A note to Brad DeLong and Russil Wvong

Dear Russil,

You wrote, "Chomsky is taking a single sentence from the middle of a 21-page
document and arguing that this represents the primary goal of US
foreign policy, ignoring the rest of the document and numerous
other documents in which it's clear that the primary goal of US
policymakers was containment of the Soviet Union."

And yet you wrote, "I am *not* arguing that US foreign policy is virtuous and
benevolent, or that Kennan himself has never made any
recommendations which cannot be criticized on moral grounds. In
the same document, PPS/23, Kennan recommends that the US encourage
the Western European countries to retain, develop, and exploit
their African colonies, as a source of food and raw materials,
with no mention of the interests of the Africans themselves. ... Here, Chomsky definitely has a point. "

You wrote "The US has done plenty of immoral things. But *it shouldn't be
necessary to make stuff up*, and I think Chomsky's quote of
PPS/23 is so misleading that it falls into this category. "

Russil, you see yourself how Kennan wrote in the same document, your point about "ignoring the rest of the document" is just wrong.
I hate to think there are people that will absolutely refuse to concede a valid point. The fact is Chomsky is correct when he quotes Kennan. Have you given it more though because I hope if you do you will agree.

I myself have been doing extensive research into the agendas served by US policy makers.