Robert Kagan: Most Recent Articles and Archives

The importance of U.S. military might shouldn’t be underestimated

Robert Kagan — Thu, 2 Feb 2012 19:45:45 EST

These days “soft” power and “smart” power are in vogue (who wants to make the case for “dumb” power?) while American “hard” power is on the chopping block. This is, in part, a symbolic sacrifice to the fiscal crisis — even though the looming defense cuts are a drop in the bucket compared with the ballooning entitlement spending that is not being cut. And partly this is the Obama administration’s election-year strategy of playing to a presumably war-weary nation.

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Give the next Russian ambassador a powerful tool to guard human rights

David J. Kramer, Robert Kagan — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:07:01 EST

Wednesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Michael McFaul as the next U.S. ambassador to Russia highlights one of three steps that Congress should take this fall related to Russia and U.S.-Russian relations.

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An imperfect triumph in Libya

Robert Kagan — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:24:09 EST

With Moammar Gaddafi still at large and an uncertain future ahead for the Libyan people, one hesitates to make categorical judgments about the Obama administration’s recent intervention. A few things, however, can be said.

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A front-row seat for the Russian coup of ’91

Robert Kagan — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:10:08 EST

My one Zelig-like moment occurred in August 1991. I was in Moscow, by accident of marriage: My wife was an American diplomat covering what at the time had been the fairly inconsequential government of the Russian Republic. Things became somewhat interesting because the president of the republic was the dynamic reformer Boris Yeltsin, and he had actually been elected to his office. On Aug. 19, things became a great deal more interesting.

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Loosening Putin’s grip

Robert Kagan — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:57:20 EST

As dictators fall in the Middle East and even China’s leaders panic at the word “Jasmine,” a question arises: What about Russia? Is Vladimir Putin’s regime immune to this fourth wave of democratic pressures?

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A foreign policy that needs realism and pragmatism

Robert Kagan — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:46:00 EST

A number of articles over the past few months have reported that inside the Obama administration, camps of alleged “idealists” and alleged “pragmatists” have been dueling over how to respond to the revolutionary upheaval in the Arab world. According to these accounts, the “pragmatists” worry about American interests and have therefore been cautious about moving away from the long-standing dictatorships in the region. Thus the New York Times explained that, in Egypt, “diplomats at the State Department” favored standing by then-President Hosni Mubarak because they viewed “the Egyptian crisis through the lens of American strategic interests in the region.”

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Why Egypt has to be the U.S. priority in the Middle East

Robert Kagan, Michele Dunne — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 18:35:49 EST

With the horrific carnage in Libya, the flames of revolution burning in Yemen and Bahrain, and protests for political change in Jordan and Morocco, there’s a danger that the United States and Europe may lose sight of what still has to be our highest priority in the region: helping the people of Egypt complete their transition to democracy and a new chance at prosperity.

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Sun, 6 Mar 2011 18:35:49 EST

Have Egypt's rulers thought about the isolation that awaits them?

Robert Kagan — Thu, 3 Feb 2011 13:56:46 EST

One wonders whether Egypt's current rulers and military leaders have asked themselves, after they finish bloodying the opposition, what's next? What circumstances will they find themselves in? In control of Egypt, yes. But it will be a very different Egypt - a pariah state.

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The Egypt-Colombia dichotomy

Robert Kagan — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:20:12 EST

American foreign policy, like any nation's, can be hypocritical, selfish, riddled with contradictions and double standards. A president may proclaim his commitment to democracy in soaring rhetoric one day and in the next turn a blind eye to repressive behavior by some government deemed important to U.S. interests. Squaring ideals with more tangible interests is a tricky business.

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