Herbert Meyer, RIP

[Valin]

Power Line

Steven Hayward

June 24 2019

Very sad news this evening of the passing of Herbert Meyer, one of the genuine heroes of the Cold War for his service in the CIA under President Reagan. It was Meyer who, in a famous memo to Reagan in November 1983 when things were very tense with our intermediate-range missile deployments in Europe, wrote: “if present trends continue, we are going to win the Cold War.” Over eight vivid and tightly argued pages, Herb laid out the reasons that subsequently came to pass over the next decade.

I guess I can tell now something that Herb told me off the record about the famous memo. A number of senior people in the Reagan foreign policy establishment tried to keep the memo from reaching Reagan (Herb cleverly addressed it to his supremo boss, William Casey, knowing Casey would pass it on), and some of them subsequently tried to get Herb fired from the CIA for this heterodox assessment. I won’t say who (not just now anyway), but they are names you would recognize. Typically generous, Herb had nothing but good things to say about their abilities and dedication, but it’s an example of how institutional interests and personal reputations can lead to bad behavior.

(Snip)

I think it worth reposting the first segment of the video interview I did with Herb back in 2014, which I later turned into a full podcast.

 

[Valin]

Herbert Meyer is one reason Why I say the things I say, and believe the things I believe.

April 10 2019

n one of his last recorded speeches, Herbert E. Meyer spoke about his service at the CIA and some of the most important -- and under-reported -- trends in world affairs, including:

• The differences between globalization and globalism;

• The Islamic world's opportunity to join the West as a part of modernity; and

• The emergence of a world-wide market with a global middle class of billions of people. It's a rational and passionate message of hope for the future.

This presentation was to the National Association of Electrical Distributors' South Central Region Conference in San Diego in February 2018. Herb was seriously injured in a bicycle accident later that year.

(Snip)

__________________________________________________________

 

I like this talk. I Really Really hope/pray he's correct.....But one thing I have learned from history is...Something....Always....Happens. Just when things are going reasonably well Something Happens.