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Three Cheers for the Man Who Did Nothing
Thomas de WaalSometimes history should recognize the magnificence of politicians who, confronted with a difficult situation, decide to do nothing. The best exponent of this monumental restraint is...
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Military-Industrial Complex, APSA Edition, Part II
Christopher A. PrebleSEATTLE - We had a terrific discussion here at APSA concerning many different aspects of the military-industrial complex (M-I-C). I'm grateful to the panelists and to those who...
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The End of the American Era
Stephen M. WaltTHE UNITED States has been the dominant world power since 1945, and U.S. leaders have long sought to preserve that privileged position. They understood, as did most Americans, that...
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In the Hall of the Vulcans
Anatol LievenMarvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb, Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2011), 355 pp., $29.95.Dov S. Zakheim, A...
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The Wisdom of Henry Kissinger and George F. Kennan
Jacob HeilbrunnHenry Kissinger has contributed several lengthy essays to the New York Times Book Review in the past few years, including a tribute to Dean Acheson. They are essential reading, marked by...
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The Contradictions of George Kennan
Christopher LayneJohn Lewis Gaddis, George F. Kennan: An American Life (New York: Penguin, 2011), 800 pp., $39.95.GEORGE F. KENNAN—diplomat, foreign-policy analyst, historian, social critic,...
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Germany's New Pastor-President
Ariel CohenGermans should be proud. Europe may just have found a worthy successor to Vaclav Havel—a reliable U.S. ally who can strengthen cooperation between both sides of the Atlantic.Joachim Gauck,...
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A World in Transformation
Brent ScowcroftTHIS SPECIAL issue of The National Interest is particularly timely because we are living in a world that we know and that has shaped our thinking, but that world is in a process of...
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Withdrawal, Not Defeat
Mark N. KatzMany have warned that after the U.S. withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, American-backed efforts to foster democratic government in both are likely to fail and Islamist radicals are...
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JFK's Overshadowed Crisis
Bruce RiedelIN APRIL, India launched a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear bomb deep into the Indian Ocean. The successful Agni missile test fulfilled India’s fifty-year quest to achieve...
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Lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis
Francis J. GavinFifty years ago this month, the United States and Soviet Union faced off in what is commonly considered the most dangerous crisis of the Cold War and, given the catastrophic...
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Time for Strategic Learning
Harlan UllmanBritish Field Marshall Viscount Alanbrooke of Brookeborough, one of World War II’s most accomplished and distinguished generals, regularly complained about the lack of American strategic...
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Revising the Cold War Revisionists
Robert ServiceIron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956 (New York: Doubleday, 2012), 608 pp., $35.00.THE IRON...
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The Cold War World Wasn't Simple
Robert Golan-VilellaWe live in a world of unprecedented complexity, says one of the more common tropes in foreign-policy discourse. Commentators and government officials who subscribe to this view...
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Washington's Losing Streak
James JoynerAs we approach the tenth anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq on March 20, it's worth reflecting on the fact that it has been nearly seventy years since America's last successful...
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The Morality of Kissinger's Realism
Robert W. MerryRobert D. Kaplan’s provocative profile of Henry Kissinger, out today in The Atlantic, says a great deal about the man—some of it quite antagonistic toward much received wisdom about the...
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France Isn't Aiming for Nuclear Zero
Frank KlotzThe French government finally unveiled its long-awaited livre blanc on defense and national security last week. As expected, thewhite paper contains grim news for the French military,...
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Rational and Reckless Alliances
Ted Galen CarpenterCritics have complained for decades about the willingness of America’s allies to free ride on the security efforts of the United States. U.S. demands for greater burden sharing by...
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Obama Should Call for German Leadership
Jeff LightfootPresident Barack Obama should use his speech tomorrow at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to call for more active, confident German leadership of the European Union—which is needed if the...
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The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy
Robert D. KaplanFor over two years, the civil war in Syria has been synonymous with cries of moral urgency. Do Something! shout those who demand the United States intervene militarily to set the...
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