Wednesday, January 24, 2007

UNREAL 'REALISM' AND DETERMINED DENIAL

Over at the Belmont Club, Wretchard has concisely summarizes the essential realpolitik:
One of the most valuable skills in diplomacy is never to let the facts get in the way of a good policy. Maliki is our man in Baghdad. America should seek engagement with Iran and Syria because they only want stability in Iraq. Pakistan is our friend. Yasser Arafat was our partner for peace and he never ordered the murder of an American ambassador. Teheran's nuclear program is entirely peaceful. In each case reality is subordinated to the overarching and luminous vision. And oh, this skill at diplomatic doublethink is called realism.


It is important to note that he makes this comment in the context of today's news that North Korea is assisting Iran in preparing for a nuclear test.

Clearly for the same sort of peaceful purposes that Kim Jong Il has in mind for his country's nuclear capabilities.

Cue the theme music, because now, you're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are imagination and delusion. A region of unreal realism and determined denial. There's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone....

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