The dire prophecy of George F. Keenan

Where we regard history as the "refuse of civilization", we ourselves become refuse, having cannibalized our existence. We build societies as cannon fodder for the despots who prey on them.

“The best thing we can do if we want the Russians to let us be Americans is to let the Russians be Russian”— George Keenan 1984

“A foreign policy aimed at the achievement of total security is the one thing I can think of that is entirely capable of bringing this country to a point where it will have no security at all. And a ruthless, reckless insistence on attempting to stamp out everything that could conceivably constitute a reflection of improper foreign influence in our national life, regardless of the actual damage it is doing to the cost of eliminating it, in terms of other American values, is the one thing I can think of that should reduce us all to a point where the very independence we are seeking to defend would be meaningless, for we would be doing things to ourselves as vicious and tyrannical as any that might be brought to us from outside”.—George Keenan 1984

Preface

History— “A seamless web, linking past present and future. Contemporary Western society attempts to limit history to the past, as if it were the refuse of civilization. Individuals who hold power tend to see history only as a mythology which can be manipulated to distract the citizenry, but is not useful in itself “.— John Ralston Saul, The Doubter’s Companion

John Ralston Saul is a Canadian historian and philosopher of great distinction as he has written some of the most important books of our times. His is not well known in his own country as we have little regard for history, especially our own history. When we don’t know our own history we are amnesiacs wandering in the wilderness of our nihilistic existence. This is not only true of Canada but of Western civilization. Countries scorning their history are derelict in their thought and actions. They suffer auto-infantilization as their decisions are not based on collective wisdom or their own history, they operate from what they see as the invincible present with no regard for the past or future. The invincible present become the shackles of their existence.

Peoples have to have roots, values, beliefs and a sense of place, peace and security to survive, thrive and adapt effectively. We live in a time when fascist ideologues who have declared war on their own societies and others to serve their wicked agendas. They have declared war on the world. Over many decades our societies have been under attack. The end result we see today are forlorn, beleaguered societies lost in perpetual war and chaos.

Saul’s book was published almost 30 years ago to little effect or promise , yet the quotation above is so critical and pivotal to our times. We are guided by lies propaganda, psychotic warmongers, clueless politicians and a Western media that has totally sold its soul to war. We live in a time when patriotism is seen as treason, and truth is the lie told too often. The agents of chaos have prevailed for too long.

Keenan’s prophecy

If we want to understand the crisis of the world today we have to refer to the two decades following WW II . During the 1950’s and 1960’s George F. Kennan was a key player in establishing post war US foreign policy. He was America’s ambassador to Russia. He was instrumental in the formation of the CIA( much to regret). He was considered one of the “wise men” of US foreign policy, but his conciliatory views saw his influence fade rapidly as the Cold War took very deep roots as open warfare and belligerence dominated US foreign policy. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a declaration of war on the world, with the Korean hot war soon to follow and the age of perpetual warfare came into being.

Even as WW II was ending there were factions in the US government preparing for war on the USSR( now the remaindered Russia) and China.

As a diplomat Keenan advised that even though the US came out of the great war prosperous and unscathed it eventually had to reconcile its place in the world. It had 50% of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3% of the of the world’s population. Eventually it was going to have to deal with the rise of Eurasia.

For Washington there would be no “middle way” war and blunt instruments would be its response.

The answer to Keenan’s cautionary was already emerging as Washington was laying the ground for a warfare state ruling the world through militarism and economic extortion. It was setting out as the self-proclaimed ruler of the world— the “rules based order” where any challenger will be slapped down as necessary—Wolfowitz Doctrine.

Keenan as a historian and statesman standing for the“middle way” became a dissenter as it became obvious the USA was the new warfare state pursuing empire. Even though WW II ended the British empire, even though the Third Reich which was supposed to last a thousand years was crushed in seven years, and the Japanese empire was foreclosed with the gratuitous bombing of a defeated nation petitioning for peace, Washington was on the warpath against the world to “reconcile” its population gap. What it lacked in numbers it would make make up for in war and treachery.

As a historian Keenan was well aware the rise and fall of empires are an immutable cycle of history. The seeds of their destruction are present from conception as they are run by imperfect beings with imperfect agendas. Even so Washington’s agenda was hybrid war against the world.

Keenan’s prophecy is now in full bloom. Eurasia has performed its “ economic miracle” and Washington’s crippled response is World War III.

It should be of some concern we are seeing the third world war in just over a hundred years, all of them having their origins in so-called Western Civilization.

While Keenan was sidelined as a diplomat and policy planner he focused on history. He died at the age of 101 and saw the empire come to full bloom.

From retirement he deeply regretted the monster the CIA became, a carbon copy of its first director the sinister Allan Dulles.

When asked his opinion on the eastward expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders Keenan was appalled. Like many other historians and expert diplomats he predicted it would lead to war just as it has done so. Even though NATO has betrayed the Europe it was supposed to protect and has been thoroughly discredited as a peace alliance it blunders on escalating a war in Ukraine that is utterly Pyrrhic to both sides.

As in the decline of the Roman Empire NATO is fighting a rearguard war in Ukraine employing hired mercenaries, scatter-brained tactics, throwing indiscriminate amounts of money and weapons at a war lost, with no regard for the loss of life and property inflicted on Ukraine using the country as a proxy/pawn sacrifice in its imperialist war on Russia dating back almost a hundred, where this conflict is just the most recent chapter.

Where the Ukraine president is portrayed as a heroic figure in the Western propaganda machine one has to how anyone can be so easily duped into presiding over the total destruction of his own country in service to war mongering imperialists.

In the quote at the top of this article Keenan restates a powerful and very common sense maxim we ignore: “ live and let live.” This is a concept so simple and universally applicable it raises a host of questions as to why we can’t embrace it. We disgrace and destroy ourselves by refusing to embrace it. Where are the statesmen and women willing promote such a a basic concept?

In the second quote Keenan addresses America’s compulsive concern for its national security. But of course this obsessive concern is really a pretext for its endless reckless imperialist wars and interventions. It makes the fatuous claim that events half around the world are a threat to its “national security”.

As Keenan points out an obsession for absolute security is futile and ultimately self-destructive especially in a highly integrated and over populated world where the destruction is compounded on to others.

The great irony now is that China is showing a level of altruism toward other countries to benefit itself, but also to benefit its clients— it is making an effort to lift all boats. It is reciprocity and altruism all rolled into one. Had the US practiced this 75 years ago it would truly be a great empire and worthy of world leadership, as it is, it took a turn down the wrong road.

Where we regard history as the "refuse of civilization", we ourselves become refuse, having cannibalized our existence. We build societies as cannon fodder for the despots who prey on them.