Quotes from Odd Arne Westad

Like Wilson during World War I, Franklin Roosevelt believed in "positive nationalisms" as the best guard against authoritarian ideologies, but with the crucial difference that America this time could and should assist in finessing the content of these nationalisms and the reforms they envisaged for their countries when liberated from the enemy menace.

the Communists when taking power in Russia of course became successors to an old expansionist empire, in much the same way as the American revolutionaries developed out of the British empire. In both cases the ideologies that justified intervention had developed from concerns that were formed in earlier centuries, under different regimes.

Kissinger's 1960 recipe for success was to combine massive increases in US foreign aid with assistance in constructing "enlightened political institutions" in the recipient countries. Noting that "economic assistance is a form of intervention," Kissinger believed that "to offer nothing but bread is to leave the arena to those who are sufficiently dynamic to define their purpose."39

Kennedy and Johnson had more to offer than bread alone. Initiatives such as the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress were intended to stimulate political as well as economic development.

The great majority of Americans, however, viewed the growth of authoritarian collectivist ideologies in Europe during the Great Depression with suspicion and fear. Although Communism had in many ways been the original challenge, it was not difficult to see similarities between the Communist faith – especially in its Stalinist form – and other contemporary political directions, such as fascism or national socialism. They all represented a challenge to America.

1. In the nuclear age, mankind must develop a new political thinking and a new concept of the world that provides sound guarantees for the survival of mankind. 2. The world we have inherited belongs to present and future generations alike—hence we must give priority to universal human values. 3. Human life must be acknowledged [as] the supreme value. 4. Non-violence must become the basis of human co-existence.7

The Chinese Communist revolution, the US-supported wars against Communist guerrillas in Vietnam, Malaya, and the Philippines, the radical orientation of the postindependence regimes in Indonesia, India, and Egypt, and even the successful interventions in Guatemala and Iran convinced the Eisenhower administration that the Third World may not be ready for democracy

77 millones de chinos murieron por causas no naturales a consecuencia de las guerras o de los asesinatos de masas por motivos políticos entre las décadas de 1920 y 1980, y la inmensa mayoría de ellos murieron a manos de compatriotas suyos.1