Não resisto em deixar mais uma passagem do livro de memórias de George Kennan. Kennan, nascido em 1904, era nesta altura um jovem diplomata sem qualquer influência na desorganizada política externa norte-americana de 1943. Mais tarde, porém, Kennan veio a revelar-se um dos principais ideólogos durante a Guerra Fria, com o célebre artigo assinado na Foreign Affairs, sob o pseudónimo "X" e com a teoria do containment.
O relato que Kennan faz a seguir é de meados de Outubro de 1943, alguns dias antes da entrada oficial dos ingleses na Terceira. Algumas facções norte-americanas defendiam que Kennan (que era o chargé d'affaires em Lisboa desde a morte do Embaixador) deveria solicitar a Portugal uma série de facilidades nos Açores.
"A list of facilities several times more pretencious than all that the British, even invoking their ancient alliance, had ever dreamed of requesting: a naval base, a seaplane base, bases for landbased aircraft on three different islands, cable and communications systems, observation posts, radar, facilities for accommodation of American naval vessels in each of the Azores ports, etc. It was clear that facilities of these dimensions would simply sink the economy and administration of the islands under their own weight. (...) The primary economy of the islands would be debauched by the amount of outside money brought in and expended. The islanders themselves, heretofore self-respecting people, would inevitably be moved to abandon their humble farms and other pursuits and to embrace, for the superior remuneration involved, the status of servicing personnel for the bases. It was idle to pretend that this represented anything other than a virtual takeover of the islands by our armed forces for the duration of the war and he ruination of the culture and traditional mode of life of the inhabitants."
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