washingtonpost.com - Robert KaganRobert KaganThose Subtle Chinese- April 24, 2005 For the past few months I've been hearing from a bevy of China experts about how subtle and brilliant Beijing's diplomacy has become in recent years. Sophisticated and confident, Chinese diplomats have been running rings around the United States, winning friends and influencing people throughout East Asia and the world. So I can only marvel at China's latest diplomatic gambits, whose brilliance and sophistication must be so subtle as not to be susceptible to normal modes of analysis.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22110-2005Mar9.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns... A Decent Regard- April 24, 2005 The chief criticism of President Bush's foreign policy in this campaign is obviously not going to be that he invaded Iraq. The big antiwar candidate, Howard Dean, is finished. The two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination both voted for the war. The failure to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- and the stunning ineptitude of the administration in defending itself against unfair charges of prewar deception -- has not undermined basic public support for the war.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21156-2004Mar1.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns... Shiites and Stereotypes- April 24, 2005 President Jimmy Carter once asked Americans to abandon an "inordinate fear of communism" that "led us to embrace any dictator who joined us in that fear." That was back in 1977, when a standard critique of American Cold War policies was that policymakers held a simplistic, monolithic view of communism. Not all communists were stooges of the Soviet Union, as China and Yugoslavia demonstrated. And not all national liberation movements were led by communists. More often, they were led by...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33566-2005Feb17.html?nav=rss_opinion/column... War And the Fickle Left- April 24, 2005 "Must the decision to use force always be made multilaterally" Michael Walzer -- the renowned liberal philosopher, ethicist and just-war theorist -- posed this question not so long ago in an article in the New Republic. And his answer was, unequivocally, no. Noting that "the argument against unilateralism" was the "favorite argument of Americans who opposed an attack on Iraq," Walzer argued that the opponents were wrong. "Some unilateral uses of force can be justified," he insisted. "Some might.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31724-2002Dec23.html?nav=rss_opinion/column... A Higher Realism- April 24, 2005 The most significant thing about President Bush's inaugural address was the word he did not utter: terror. Until now the war on terrorism has been the administration's foreign policy paradigm, giving unity and coherence to disparate and morally contradictory policies: promoting democracy in the Middle East, for instance, while ignoring undemocratic practices in Russia and China. One would have expected Bush to make the war on terrorism the theme of his address.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27822-2005Jan21.html?nav=rss_opinion/column... No George McGovern- April 24, 2005 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently did his best to justify the war in Iraq, and he expounded a bit on the role of American power in the world. Here's what he said:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50126-2003Nov16.html?nav=rss_opinion/column... Embraceable E.U.- April 24, 2005 In the unfolding drama of Ukraine, the Bush administration and the European Union have committed a flagrant act of transatlantic cooperation. If Ukrainians eventually vote in a free and fair election and thereby thwart the reemergence of an authoritarian Russian empire along the borders of democratic Europe, it will be one of those rare hinges of history where looming disaster was turned into glittering opportunity. And it would not have happened without the joint efforts of the United States...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34023-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns... Napoleonic Fervor- April 24, 2005 BRUSSELS -- Was Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo a glorious moment in France's history In a best-selling account of Napoleon's final days published two years ago, France's multi-talented foreign minister, Dominique Galouzeau de Villepin, argues that, yes, even today, Napoleon's defeat "shines with an aura worthy of victory."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55843-2003Feb23.html?nav=rss_opinion/column... Iraq and Averages- April 24, 2005 We all make a common logical error that cognitive psychologists call the "availability heuristic." It means making judgments about the future based not on a broad body of historical evidence but on recent, vivid events that skew our perceptions. My favorite recent example, for reasons that will be apparent, concerns this baseball season and the era's finest sportswriter, The Post's own Thomas Boswell.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4782-2004Oct3.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/... France's Dream World- April 24, 2005 America, with its vast power, can sometimes seem like a bully on the world stage. But, really, the 1,200-pound gorilla is an underachiever in the bullying business. American diplomats have been tied in knots at the U.N. Security Council. It was seven weeks ago that President Bush demanded the United Nations take rapid action against Saddam Hussein. But when Colin Powell was asked last week how long he would let U.N. inspectors wander around Iraq, his answer was "months." Would that be four...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54817-2002Nov1.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns... |