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Eric Edelman is one of our top diplomats (retired though he may be) and one of our top foreign-policy thinkers. In a long career, he was ambassador to Finland and ambassador to Turkey. Before that, he was an assistant to George P. Shultz. Some years before that, he was a doctoral student at Yale, writing about post-war Italy. Jay reviews some pressing concerns with him, past and present, though mostly present – and future. Edelman is a cool thinker in a hot world.
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Ambassador to Finland huh? Seems like a tough gig… I feel like I could be ambassador to Finland without any real worries. Ambassador to Turkey, on the other hand. That seems like it could be challenging.
Hey Jay – you see Mark Steyn’s newest column – you’re mentioned.
I certainly am no diplomat. And I certainly would never claim any foreign policy expertise. But I was disappointed in Mr. Edelman’s analysis of why the Soviet Union is no more. He credits our foreign policy of containment, begun with a cablegram (or whatever it was) by George Kennan. It seemed to me that President Reagan turned that policy on its head, with his activist role in seeing to it that the Soviets lost the cold war. I know that Jay likes to interview more than challenge; but it seems to me could have challenged Edelman on this point.