re: But at least it was "fair and balanced"
Anybody with the IQ of a squirrel knows who Hanson is talking about in the "antipode" examples. Sorry if he didn't name Reagan in the "arms for hostages" reference. He probably assumed you knew.
His commentary covers many administrations, mostly Republican, in which the concept of "realism" dictated sucking up to authoritarian regimes in many places, as long as they were on the right side of the Cold War.
It's amazing how some of the same people who have posted that photo of Rumsfeld and Saddam, and hooted about it, are right now proposing exactly the same kind of "realism" solutions with Iran and Syria.