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George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quotes

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Famous George F. Kennan Quotes

“Russia, Russia - unwashed, backward, appealing Russia, so ashamed of your own backwardness, so orientally determined to conceal it from us by clever deceit. So sensitive and so suspicious in the face of the wicked, civilized west. I shall always remember you slyly, touchingly, but with great shouting and confusion - pumping hot water into our sleeping car in the frosty darkness of a December morning in order that we might not know, in order that we might never realize, to how primitive a land we had come.”

KnowsMightRememberFacesOrderWaterRealizingSleepMorningDarknessLandCarHotWestDeterminedRussiaCleverConfusionSensitiveWickedAshamedDeceitCivilizedPrimitiveSuspiciousShoutingDecemberRemember YouRemembers YouHot Water
Author:George F. Kennan
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“Anyone who has ever studied the history of American diplomacy, especially military diplomacy, knows that you might start in a war with certain things on your mind as a purpose of what you are doing, but in the end, you found yourself fighting for entirely different things that you had never thought of before. In other words, war has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end.”

IfsKnowsMindDifferentWarEndsMightTodayPurposeCertainFightingFoundPresidentMilitaryIntentionIraqThoughtfulDifferent ThingsCarrieWhere You AreDo You KnowDiplomacyMomentumWhere You Are Going
Author:George F. Kennan
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