Reagan God

July 25 TLS has a review of Reagan's diaries by Ed Luttwak which, not surprising, is rather favorable to the diaries.  (Not so on the editing of the diaries.)  But it is an odd sort of review.  Luttwak's aim is to vindicate Reagan as political thinker and to refute the image of him as uninterested in facts or details, etc.  Luttwak does this by claiming that Reagan was deeply involved in the details of foreign affairs -- had a firm and detailed grasp of events in El Salvador -- except where he didn't (Iran/Contra).  Welcome to E! for politics I guess.  Iran/Contra was the fault of the CIA.  If it had been competent then McFarland and North would not have had to run the illegal operations or engaged in their other misconduct.  The CIA was bad, but not really the State Department because Haig was running the State department.  (Oh, and Reagan did not know anything about Iran/Contra stuff.)  The whole review is a little on the silly side of things.  Luttwak also holds the interesting view that Taiwan was an important issue for the Soviet Union.  Which makes me wonder if the review is not some subtle joke. 
The whole issue is that way.  A review of political analyses of the Reagen period follows (not available on line) in which we learn that with the fall of the Soviet Union, communism ended.  Apparently the world ends at the Ural mountains, or that sneaky Chinese Communist Party uses the name for advertising only.  Deng was really a banker underneath. 

Comments

[Q the Enchanter]

"The whole review is a little on the silly side of things."

As it would have to be, given Luttwak's aim.