[More on the beloved (?) Henry Kissinger]

By Ben Rhodes, "Henry Kissinger, The Hypocrite," The New York Times, Nov 30, 2023; previous Kissinger-related excerpt from NYT posting on this blog at
 
Mr. Rhodes is a former deputy national security adviser. 

A black and white photo of Henry Kissinger looking up, as if to the heavens.
Credit...
Kissinger image from article: Michael Avedon/August

Excerpt: 

"Henry Kissinger, who died on Wednesday, exemplified the gap between the story that America, the superpower, tells and the way that we can act in the world. At turns opportunistic and reactive, his was a foreign policy enamored with the exercise of power and drained of concern for the human beings left in its wake. Precisely because his America was not the airbrushed version of a city on a hill, he never felt irrelevant: Ideas go in and out of style, but power does not. ..."


Rhodes image (and text about him) from Wikipedia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Look, Muffy, a Book for Us.’ The 1980s Preppy Handbook Is Again a Must-Read.

Image
Aspiration and nostalgia have people reaching for an old classic. Socks or no socks with the boat shoes? By John Clarke, The Wall Street Journal , Aug. 27, 2023 9:00 am ET  (see also, FYAmusement, John Brown,  John Kerry and St. Paul's School - An Outsider's Recollections , published on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 by CommonDreams.org) G. Daniel Brown, a retired teacher in Saginaw, Mich., paid about $100 for a paperback not long ago. That is jaw-dropping considering that the volume, “The Official Preppy Handbook,” was published in 1980, retailed for $3.95 and is now out of print. “It is worth every cent to have this little gem in my library,” says Brown, who describes his sartorial leanings as classic prep—heavy on Brooks Brothers Oxford shirts and suits. Preppy style and the “old money aesthetic” have popped up again, like collars on polo shirts, and people are feeling inspired to revisit cable-knits, pearls and  tennis-core fashion, even by those who never step on the court.  In i
Read more

[Americana: "I love New York ... quoting the song] Behind the Gates of a Private World for Only the Wealthiest New Yorkers

Image
Although everyday life has become increasingly unaffordable for almost everyone, a new class of private, members-only and concierge services is emerging.  Zero Bond, Mayor Eric Adams’s favorite private club, is part of a new wave of members-only and concierge services catering to New York City’s wealthiest residents. Credit...Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Haute Living By Eliza Shapiro, The New York Times, Nov. 6, 2023, Updated 2:08 p.m. ET [jb: original article contains links] It’s a great time to be rich in New York City.   Everyday life is increasingly unaffordable for most New Yorkers, but a new class of private, members-only and concierge services is emerging as a kind of gated community within the city. Ultraexclusive clubs, laundry specialists, on-demand helicopter rides and services that allow users to bid hundreds of dollars for a restaurant reservation are transforming how those with lots of disposable income eat dinner, work out, see the doctor, look after their childre
Read more

[Americana: "An unexpected shift"]

Image
By  David Leonhardt  (via email) The Georgia State Capitol. Nicole Craine for The New York Times All politics is national The Electoral College has been very kind to Republicans in the 21st century. George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 despite losing the popular vote, and Donald Trump did the same in 2016. But over the past few years the Republican advantage in the Electoral College seems to have shrunk, as Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, points out  in his newsletter . Republicans are no longer faring significantly better in the states likely to decide the presidential election — like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — than they are nationwide. Instead, a 2024 race between Biden and Trump looks extremely close, with a tiny lead for Biden both nationally and in the swing states. l What’s going on here? Democrats have lost some ground in comfortably blue states like New York while gaining some in swing states like Pennsylvania. “At this point,” Nate writes, “ano
Read more