Kennan’sGhost

“The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.”

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

George Kennan advising US Sec of State Dean Acheson after US failure in Korea.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

“Kennan was an admirer of the 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon, and he voraciously read the ‘History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ on his regular trips across the Atlantic. Gibbon’s demythologizing idea of empire informed Kennan’s own doubts about the modern American empire’s supremacy.“

Matthew Andersen
November 21, 2023

https://t.co/LllfZW4RoJ

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@sentdefender Iran’s timing tied to a president’s milestone moment, just like January ‘81.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@thunderican @realmikolson @ConceptualJames Shocking. He was vetted for deception capability, operated without normal accountability, and likely internalized ‘the ends justify’ ethics.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@nancyayoussef Perhaps a burn pit that never quite goes out.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@LauraLoomer States have interests, not friends.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

“Acheson had arrived in time for as tumultuous a tour as any secretary of state ever endured, perhaps the single most difficult four-year stretch in the country's history in terms of its foreign policy. Even as he was taking office, Chiang's government was collapsing on the mainland, and the Generalissimo himself was fleeing to Taiwan. (Acheson was sworn in on the very day that Chiang left China for his new island home.
"We passed, I coming in, Chiang
going out," Acheson later noted with mordant humor.) Things got even worse that fall. Within the space of a few weeks the Soviets tested their first atomic weapon and the Chinese Communists took power in Beijing, announcing the creation of their new government, anathema to a vast segment of the American populace. Both of these events not only signaled a changing global security balance but sent psychological shock waves through the American political system. The United States was no longer the only member of the atomic club, and at virtually the same time, China, a beloved country to millions of Americans because of the missionary outreach programs there, the country that was supposed to be our great ally in Asia, had gone Communist.”

“The Coldest Winter” by David Halberstam

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@BohuslavskaKate The regime demands that its servants project an image of mastery. Actual mastery is secondary and often dangerous, for it invites suspicion from above.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

“The awkward truth was that the ATF's confidence was shot in the wake of its disastrous mishandling of Ruby Ridge and Waco, and senior managers did not want to confront another group of heavily armed survivalists with a grudge against federal agents.
"Elohim City, to me, was a situation [where] we had to be very delicate," the head of the ATF's Dallas field division, Lester Martz, later testified. "I specifically told Angie [Finley], Dave Roberts, and ASAC Wittman that I do not want any overt, covert, on-the-property surveillance, nothing done in Elohim City without my prior approval."

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

"Gram also disclosed that Howe provided, before McVeigh's attack, a copy of "The Turner Diaries," a book about a plot to blow up a federal building with a truck bomb that was circulating around Elohim City. Prosecutors later would contend the book inspired McVeigh's attack."

https://t.co/LN4j9uwMqx

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

"A federal informant warns that white separatists in Oklahoma are threatening "assassinations, bombings and mass shootings." The FBI secretly interviews a witness familiar with a plot to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. Other agents learn of a book being circulated that promotes a truck bombing of a government building."

"Noble told AP his FBI questioners appeared particularly concerned about what Elohim City members might do on April 19 because one of their heroes, Wayne Snell, was being executed that day, and another, James Ellison, was returning to Oklahoma after ending parole in Florida."

https://t.co/LN4j9uwMqx

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@joekent16jan19 The real longterm challenges lie elsewhere.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

"Howe also says she saw McVeigh at Elohim City in July 1994, in the company of two Elohim City residents, Peter Ward and Andreas Strassmeir. She says at the time she did not know McVeigh."

https://t.co/JU8ZgucYJn

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

Carol Howe’s ATF handler Angela Finley-Graham in sealed testimony reviewed during pretrial hearings for the McVeigh and Nichols trials.

Q: “Ms. Howe told you about Mr. Strassmeir’s threats to blow up federal buildings, didn’t she?”
A: “In general, yes.”
Q: “And that was before the Oklahoma City bombing?”
A: “Yes.”

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

There aren’t many files more worthy of release than those associated with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995. Starting with Operation Punchout.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@Empty_America They're navigating a messy but survivable second term with typical midterm pressure. Likely positioning for the next cycle.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@officialrnintel America's exceptionalism was always about its founding principles. Our exceptionalism is fading and the great experiment is at risk of irreversible decline.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@DavidAFrench It's the Allegory of the Cave and we are all staring at the wall of shadows.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

“It was a world where a man would propose assassinating politicians, only to spark a debate about logistics.”

https://t.co/BAQvlYkt5R

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@CasualArtyFan Like flamethrower Marines in the Pacific, volunteers are easy to find at first. Shrinking life expectancies soon make the next wave of volunteers a lot harder to find. Train as many as you can while you have the numbers.

[Kennan’sGhost @KennansGhost]

@michaeldweiss @arash_tehran Expecting a few weeks of airstrikes to fundamentally break Tehran’s behavior was always optimistic. We should have seen the lesson from the Iran/Iraq War clearly.