To make international pariahs of Russia and China would deny them the legitimacy they would need to survive. But Nixon and Kissinger have understood that socialism cannot be dislodged from the Soviet Union and China except at the cost of nuclear war. Therefore it is time to recognise the Soviet Revolution of 1917 and the Chinese Revolution of 1949. Kissinger is now willing to accord legitimacy to established revolutionary power in order to isolate it from revolutionary movements which at all costs must be denied legitimacy. Acceptance of Soviet and Chinese power is thus the price of preventing further revolutionary inroads into the Third World.
Revolutionary power is to be managed with the judicious use of the carrot and the stick.
The largest carrot is the accord of legitimacy itself. Smaller carrots include trade arrangements, wheat deals, and credits. But with respect to the Soviet Union particularly the stick remains crucial. Some like Brazil and Iran are playing an active policeman's role in other countries of the region. Brazilians helped to train and finance the September 11 coup.