Kennan, who was chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, wrote the 5,000-word memo while debates raged at home over how to deal with the Soviet Union’s turn from wartime ally to Cold ...

There is certainly plenty of material to make an argument. Yet, the reticence of Moscow and Beijing to come to Iran’s aid—in its time of greatest need, no less—should be cause for reexamining these ...