Lessons learned from Provoked by Scott Horton Part 1

Scott Horton has been everywhere. From Piers Morgan debating Wesley Clark to the Soho forum debating Bill Kristol. These debates have revealed to me how much Scott knows about US foreign policy and the damage that it has caused all around the world. I recently began reading his newest book Provoked and I wanted to share what I have learned with everyone who reads this.

Scott begins his book with the end of the cold war and Reagan and Gorbachev wanting peace. Two factions emerge US politics following the end of the Cold War; People like Jeane Kirkpatrick who wanted to bring the troops home from Europe, and people like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan who was this as an opportunity for the USA to remake the world as they saw fit. We know which side won.

Gorbachev wanted full rapprochement with the west and was ready to abolish the Warsaw Pact. According to Edward Lozansky, there were meetings that had taken place and President Bush Sr. listened with great interest about this idea until Condoleezza Rice walked into the oval office and dismissed these ideas. The book doesn’t mention why so I still wonder what her reasoning was.

One of the reasons the Soviets allowed German reunification was because they were promised that NATO would not expand eastward. The proof of this can be found in George Washington University National security archive which can be found at the end of this post. The goal posts were shifted once these came out and the new talking point was that there was no treaty or formal agreement so none of this matters. Which is laughable considering how many big deals were done without any formalities or paperwork such as JFK and the Cuban Missile Crises. I mean if we can seriously say that the word of our highest ranking officials doesn’t mean anything then can we all finally agree that they cannot be trusted with anything?

I don’t want to make this reading too long, these are just some of the lessons learned from the first couple of pages of Provoked. My goal is as I continue reading, to share my thoughts with Substack. I am about 50 pages in and I would write more, but the pages are really dense and there is so much information. I seriously recommend everyone reading this book and sharing some of the knowledge gained with friends and family.

Thanks for reading!