Too bad Eugene Rostow is no longer around to advise.

Submitted by Wallace Edward Brand (United States), Sep 12, 2013 at 22:56

"This is what Rostow, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under Johnson had to say in 1978:

"Slowly and reluctantly, Europe and the United States are coming to realize that the pattern of events in the Middle East reflects more than random turbulence in the aftermath of the British and French Empires. For nearly thirty turbulent years, the Soviet Union has sought control of this geo-political nerve center in order to bring Western Europe into its sphere. Even if Soviet ambitions were confined to Europe, Soviet hegemony in the Middle East would profoundly change the world balance of power. But Soviet control of the Middle East would lead inevitably lead to further accretions of Soviet power if China, Japan, and many more smaller vulnerable countries should conclude that the United States had lost the will or the capacity to defend its vital interests, and that sauve qui peu, and devil take the hindmost, had therefore become the order of the day.

The exploitation of Arab hostility to the Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate, and the existence of Israel has been a major weapon in the Soviet campaign. . . ."

Now Putin's op eds criticizing the US are welcomed at the New York Times. According to Major General Ion Pacepa in his new book "Disinformation", engaging with Putin is about as useful as engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood who plots to take over the US by subversion. But Obama engages with both. Rostow taught International Law and was Dean of the Yale Law School. He was one of the drafters of UN Security Council Resolution 242.

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