perception of the Truman Doctrine had been mostly all benevolence and protection. It is one of our origin stories. Even after the invasion of Iraq, there are few things that happen militarily, politically, or economically—the IMF hammering Greece, the many American-sponsored dictatorships whose brutality inspired the revolts of the Arab Spring—that do not recall this very illusion of largesse, this language of virtue and progress, and this iron core of cold, imperial self-interest.
