56
NORMAN PODHORETZ
foreign aid, military foreign aid, bribery, prestige foreign aid, sub–
sistence foreign aid and foreign aid for economic development. To
identify each situation and the measures of foreign aid appropriate
to it requires a political sensitivity both in understanding and action
which thus far has been largely absent from the operations of our
foreign aid. Yet without it much of our effort in this field will con–
tinue to be wasteful and even counterproductive in that it creates
expectations which are bound to be disappointed.
To win the cold war on this second front or even to hold our
own
is
bound to be much more difficult than to win it or hold our
own in Europe; for there the problem has posed itself primarily
in the traditional terms of military power and diplomatic manipula–
tion. The cold war in Asia, Mrica, and Latin America, once we
have realized its true nature, will test not only our political inven–
tiveness but
also
our moral stamina. For when we are faced with
reverses, which will be inevitable, we will be tempted to seek military
solutions to the problems that face us. Yet military solutions will not
only be counterproductive locally, but they will also conjure up the
possibility of the world-wide catastrophe of nuclear war. The Soviet
Union will have to come to terms with the same temptation when
it finds itself losing ground. The degree of the understanding of the
issues which the cold war presents, and of the self-restraint in the
choice of methods in dealing with them will then decide whether
the cold war will remain cold or else will degenerate into a shooting
war which
is
likely to mean the end of all of us.
NORMAN PODHORETZ
1-3. Though the West has obviously been losing ground
in the cold war, I don't believe that this can be attributed either to
Soviet successes in foreign policy or to failures of American states–
manship. The change in the balance of world political power has
come about, very simply, as a result of the change in the balance of
military
power and has, in my opinion, little or nothing to do with
