Kennan didn’t quite get it right. His depiction of Stalin as a rational actor who did not take “unnecessary risks” is readily contradicted by the weight of archival evidence. The problem was not with the rationality of Soviet decision-making — it was with the definition of “necessity.” Stalin provoked major crises with Iran and Turkey — was that an unnecessary risk? He instructed his reluctant foreign minister to take a tough line in diplomatic negotiations. “Come on, push!”, Molotov recalled him saying. “They won’t give in,” he would respond. “But you must demand!”
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