The “Doves” Obstinate Stubbornness – Folha de S. Paulo, October 21, 1973

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

In the Arab-Israeli conflict, one must distinguish between two layers of reality. One is the clash between the descendants of Israel and those of Ishmael with its powerful religious, ethnic, historical, and economic roots. The other is the Russian-American confrontation taking place between the Israelis, supported by the US, and the Ismailis, backed by Russia.

As crucial as the various aspects of the first layer of reality are, they are less far-reaching for the human race than those of the second. The outcome of the confrontation between the two superpowers could be peace or war at the world level, consequently crushing communism or giving it worldwide victory.

So, let’s dwell on this aspect of the war.

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The Russian-American clash in the Middle East contains a lesson whose scope cannot be underestimated by anyone who closely follows international and national politics.

Nixon and Kissinger’s entire behavior toward Podgorny and Brezhnev is based on a “dovish” conception of the communist mentality.

I have already dealt with this issue in a previous article. I’ll remind you here that American public opinion is divided between doves and hawks. For the latter, communists are radical rebels who revolted against God, the natural order He created, and the whole hierarchy inherent to that order. To a high degree, communists have the characteristic psychological trait of the revolted: Hatred. Hatred of everything that deviates from their negativist conceptions, and thus hatred of all individuals, organizations and people who reject their dark “gospel.”

In the service of hatred, communists alternatively employ deceit, sophistry and violence, depending on the circumstances.

So, the only way is to fight them head-on on every ground where they attack.

The doves imagine communists in a very different way. They are poor wretches whose hunger has soured and who accidentally rebelled because of the rich’s selfishness and incomprehension. The doves believe that generosity and kindness will solve the communist problem. Give them lots of money and relieve them from all diplomatic pressure and military dissuasion. Make political concessions to them. The communists’ wounded souls will heal, and peace will reign around the world.

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Of course, doves and hawks are everywhere, even in Brazil.

For some time now, the West has been moving from the influence of hawks to that of doves. Willy Brandt is the symbol of dovish politics in Europe. Nixon and Kissinger are their symbols in the Americas.

One could not imagine any dovish policies more radical and daring than Willy Brandt and Nixon’s joint offensive in favor of peace. The most recent result of this policy is the Russian attack on U.S.-ally Israel by Syrian and Egyptian hands.

I’m not discussing here whether the attack was fair or unfair in terms of direct relations between Arabs and Israelis. However, in terms of relations between the West and the East, we undoubtedly see, behind the Arabs, the emergence of a Russia fatly nourished by American wheat and benefiting from all kinds of investments, made or promised, by the West’s most prominent financial powerhouses… which ultimately encourage a war that could well trigger a worldwide conflict.

Evidence has degrees, and this conclusion provides the supreme degree of proof: The communists’ mentality is not that of law-abiding but unfortunate citizens the doves imagine but that of ruthless aggressors whom the hawks denounce. In other words, the doves have worked for war every time they proclaimed to be working for peace. They demobilized Western public opinion against communism and helped to keep Kremlin oligarchs in power, i.e., those who caused the Arab-Israeli conflict in the first place.

Will this tragic finding, with the clarity of a most direct and palpable experience, change the doves’ mentality?

I don’t think so. The donkey is the symbol of obstinacy in everyday life. In political matters, it’s the dove…