THE

MARCH, 2015

STURBRIDGETIMES
THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE AREA LIVING

MAGAZINE

BOOKREVIEW

REVIEWED BY RICHARD MORCHOE

World Order

By Henry Kissinger
Penguin Press HC, 2014
Hardcover, 432 pages

Henry Kissingers take on World Order

rom the 1970s there was a joke that went as follows; Four men are passengers in a plane; a
hippie, an old priest, Gerald Ford and Henry
Kissinger. Suddenly the pilot announces, The
plane is going down and the co-pilot and I are bailing out. There are three parachutes for passengers.
Good luck.
Gerald Ford takes one and says as he jumps, As
president, I am entitled to a chute.
Kissinger grabs another and with Teutonic intonation states as he exits, I am der smartest person in der vurld, so dis ist mein.
The priest says to the hippie, I am an old man
and have lived a long life. I am ready to meet my
maker. You take the third parachute.
The hippie replies, Not to worry, padre. The
smartest man in the world just bailed out with my
knapsack.
Henry Kissinger did not evoke neutral emotions.
He was either reviled or admired. He served under
presidents Nixon and Ford, first as National Security adviser and then as Secretary of State. Few
holders of those officers ever seemed as dominant
from the rapprochement with China to the Paris
negotiations ending the Vietnam War.
Kissinger was a departure from previous Secre-

taries of State. The office up until his appointment had been the preserve of members of the
Eastern Establishment. We had never had an
immigrant, let alone a refugee hold the position.
The Kissinger family had to flee Germany due
to National Socialist persecution of Jews.
He saw service in and after World War II.
Among other duties, while only a private, the
young soldier was placed in charge of a city. On
leaving the military, Kissinger attended Harvard, eventually earning a doctorate.
After teaching at his alma mater he went on
to government service. Leaving State, he would
found Kissinger and Associates along with another policy insider, Brent Scowcroft. It is a
prosperous and influential enterprise. Few turn
down a phone call from Henry.
Kissinger could have written an interesting
autobiography. World Order is none of that.
The author was wise not to use the word New
in the title. It is a sober record of our nations
interaction with other countries. In many ways
it is similar to Angelo Codevillas To Make and
Keep Peace Among Ourselves and with All Nations, reviewed in this magazines October 2014 issue.
Continued on following page

Thank You for Voting Us

Best Bank in the

Greater Sturbridge Area!

Sturbridge Times Readers Choice Awards.

Voted the best by readers of
The Sturbridge Times Magazine.
Visit us today to experience Simply Better.

saversbank.com t 800.649.3036

THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING

.
Member FDIC

Member SIF

Equal Housing Lender

THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

SunSet City
and Motocross
From page 13
scheduled to go into executive session to discuss strategy with respect
to potential litigation regarding the
project.
BOS Chair Mary Blanchard said
members are keeping in the information loop. Some Sturbridge residents have concerns and we are an
abutting community, so we are trying to keep abreast of the plan and
developments, Blanchard said.
Right now, we are looking out for
the interests of the residents of Sturbridge by staying informed.
Jennings said he wanted a
peaceable process on the project discussion and has talked to Charette
on several occasions. No one wants
anything in their backyard. Right
now it is a 500-acre nature preserve
where people camp, hunt, fourwheel, horseback ride and walk. We
want to continue all those uses in the
future, but regulate it so there is an
income stream to preserve the property. This is a plan with big hopes
and dreams for the future and we
are taking it one step at a time, said
Jennings, who has plans to build a
home near the project.
But for some residents, it is about
the change of rural life that the motocross aspect of the project may
bring. We dont oppose the sport itself many of us have family members that ride either dirt bikes or
ATVs, said Sturbridge resident
Anne Geyer, who lives within a mile
of the site. The bottom line is I am
concerned about the quality of life
for meand my neighbors. If racing were just on the weekend, I
might go and watch. But this is a
commercial business that needs to
make money and there will be training during the week and events on
weekends. Motocross is a noisy sport
and this is a residential areaif you
do the research, there is lots of strife
when the two cohabitate. Noise is a
consistent problem.

Morchoe
Long Hill
From previous page

any better? Other than a trip to

Florida, of course.
There is much to whine about fair
or not. Politicians and bureaucrats
make great targets. Deval Patrick
should be glad he vacated the corner
office before the recurring deluges.
Charlie Baker is new enough that he
gets a small pass. That has not kept
him from being the chief complainer,
which is a cute way of blaming his
predecessor. It is the smart strategy.
Charlie wondered why we are
spending 25 million on commuter rail
to Foxboro when we havent done
much in the way of maintaining what
we have. Who could it have been that
did not keep up the equipment other

THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING

Kissinger

than the recently departed administration?

It goes without saying that nothing was mentioned about a potential
commuter rail connection to our region.
Fortunately for local cynics, there
is a scapegoat who appears to have
been sent direct from central casting.
Dr. Beverly Scott may or may not be
doing a good job running the
MBTA. That is irrelevant as her
press conference was a debacle.
It was normal agency speak until
one of the audience asked if she was
going to resign. At that point the
lady went on a defensive rant that
eventually led a commenter from the
radio station to break in and note
that we were listening to Beverly
Scotts final press conference. It
turned out to be an easy prophecy.

It is obvious she is not a Massachusetts native and has never heard the
maxim of the legendary Boston ward
boss Martin Lomasney; Never write
when you can speak, never speak when
you can nod. Volubility is not the bureaucrats friend.
So weve had the diversion of political theater. Fun maybe, but it removes
no snow. Still, there has been one compensation. As this issue goes to press,
we have not lost power. I am superstitious enough to worry mentioning it has
jinxed us.
Pour moi, global warming holds no
terrors.

Please support and thank

our Advertisers.
They bring you this magazine.

Continued from page 8

mess if we let it. Leaving and forgetting it would be a better plan. Ignorance may not be bliss, but in this
case, it could be good strategy.
The tone of the book is all too
much, we have to do things, because
we have to. He does a good job of
laying out the situation, but does not
provide a compelling reason for intervention.
When Kissinger was the dominant foreign policy player, his most
important task was to extricate the
country from Vietnam. It would
have been nice if we could have
achieved Peace with honor as
Nixon put it, but the big thing was
leaving. We were as LBJ put it, hunkering down like a jackass in a hailstorm. We couldnt stay forever
and knew we had to go.
Kissinger accomplished the mission and, yes the South fell. All the
predictions of the end of the world
for us, however, did not come to pass.
Maybe thats the lesson about
World Order that needs to be
learned.
THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE 19