Vulcans, Part 2
So I'm about 2/3 the way through The Rise of the Vulcans.
I continue to be impressed with the extent of James Mann's research on these characters.
I did not know that Condoleezza Rice is an accomplished pianist, nearly of concert-hall caliber. She studied dance, flute and violin, and is a rather talented iceskater. She speaks fluent Russian. In addition, she can bend spoons with her mind, once punched through a brick wall, and has a +4 saving throw versus the undead. No kidding.
In one of history's wonderful ironies, she was convinced to switch her university major from music to international studies by Josef Korbel, the father of Madeleine Albright.
Richard Armitage, whom we last saw leaping Hulk-like across an Southeast Asian archipelago, adopted six children and has been a foster parent for some 40 others. That is just cool.
Speaking of Armitage, he was the target of an intense campaign by Ross Perot, who erroneously believed that Armitage was covering up the existence of American POWs in Vietnam.
During the Reagan years, Cheney and Rumsfeld would disappear at least once a year for several days. Their staffs didn't know where they went. Not even their wives knew. For most of us that would probably indicate yet another self-destructive bender in Vegas, but these guys were actually carrying out secretive continuity of government exercises.
The plan was to have three teams, each with different cabinet member at its core. In the event of a Soviet nuclear attack, the teams would hightail it to undisclosed locations (sound familiar?) where they could run the United States in the event that the attacks wiped out the rest of the government.
Mann asserts that the essence of the Vulcan agenda is to create an America so powerful that it can never be challenged by any power. This idea was spelled out in a paper written after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The paper was written by an assistant to Wolfowitz, who was the undersecretary of defense for policy at the time. That assistant's name was Zalmay Khalilzad. Zalmay Khalilzad was recently named ambassador to Iraq, after serving as envoy to Afghanistan.
I continue to be impressed with the extent of James Mann's research on these characters.
I did not know that Condoleezza Rice is an accomplished pianist, nearly of concert-hall caliber. She studied dance, flute and violin, and is a rather talented iceskater. She speaks fluent Russian. In addition, she can bend spoons with her mind, once punched through a brick wall, and has a +4 saving throw versus the undead. No kidding.
In one of history's wonderful ironies, she was convinced to switch her university major from music to international studies by Josef Korbel, the father of Madeleine Albright.
Richard Armitage, whom we last saw leaping Hulk-like across an Southeast Asian archipelago, adopted six children and has been a foster parent for some 40 others. That is just cool.
Speaking of Armitage, he was the target of an intense campaign by Ross Perot, who erroneously believed that Armitage was covering up the existence of American POWs in Vietnam.
During the Reagan years, Cheney and Rumsfeld would disappear at least once a year for several days. Their staffs didn't know where they went. Not even their wives knew. For most of us that would probably indicate yet another self-destructive bender in Vegas, but these guys were actually carrying out secretive continuity of government exercises.
The plan was to have three teams, each with different cabinet member at its core. In the event of a Soviet nuclear attack, the teams would hightail it to undisclosed locations (sound familiar?) where they could run the United States in the event that the attacks wiped out the rest of the government.
Mann asserts that the essence of the Vulcan agenda is to create an America so powerful that it can never be challenged by any power. This idea was spelled out in a paper written after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The paper was written by an assistant to Wolfowitz, who was the undersecretary of defense for policy at the time. That assistant's name was Zalmay Khalilzad. Zalmay Khalilzad was recently named ambassador to Iraq, after serving as envoy to Afghanistan.
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