Maintaining a Position of Disparity

In 1948, George Kennan, wrote the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Study 23, then a top secret document. It is now easily enough available, and it makes fascinating reading. I can imagine that one of its most enthusiastic readers is ol' George W. himself. I'd be willing to bet he keeps it beside his bed, on top of the bible. He probably has the little wife read his favourite passage to him, in place of a bedtime story, every night. I can just see him falling asleep, clutching the pages to his chest like a sleepy tot would their teddy bear.
The lines George W. would love the most have been the subject of heated debate; some using them as proof of the greed of the U.S.; and others insisting they are misquoted to prove entirely the wrong supposition about the U.S. of lofty principles, the saviour of the world. Noam Chomsky and David Korten are among those who quote them as proof of the driving ambition for empire-like hegemony that rules everything the U.S. does.
In his concluding paragraphs, Kennan describes the U.S. as a country "older, mellower, and more advanced... a nation for which the concept of order, as opposed to power, has value and meaning". Doesn't sound too bad. In fact, you could even begin to see the hawk-like nation turning over a peaceful new leaf until you get to the next line wherein he affirms that if his nation does "not have the strength to seize and hold real leadership" then Plato's mournful prediction that humanity will never have rest from evil will come true. George W., I am sure, loves the idea of the U.S.asserting that power, marching in and using the stealth weaponry of international debt and unconscionable trade agreements to take whatever they want wherever they want it, under the guise of saving the world from evil.
The particular lines George would underline in red are as follows:
"...we have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction.
...we would be better off to dispense now with a number of the concepts which have underlined our thinking... We should dispense with the aspiration to “be liked” or to be regarded as the repository of a high-minded international altruism. We should stop putting ourselves in the position of being our brothers' keeper and refrain from offering moral and ideological advice. We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization."
Before any supporters of Bush and his conquering country get on my case for misquoting, I will say right up front that I omitted the mention of the Far East in the foregoing passage, written by Kennan specifically in relation to that part of the world. That detail wouldn't stop Bush from applying the sentiment expressed to every country the States wants to rob of some natural resource, any more than it has stopped all the other people who have quoted the passage sans the term "Far East".
The lines that loom the largest, in my mind, are, "The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better." I get such a picture of George W. when I read those lines. I see him sitting on the side of his bed, in his little jammies with the feet in them, holding the Planning Study to his chest, rocking rhythmically back and forth, giggling just a little while he wipes away a trace of spit and chants the lines over and over in sing-song style.
God help the U.S. God help us all.