<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - Robert Kagan</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/columns/kaganroberts?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><description>Robert Kagan</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[Those Subtle Chinese]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22110-2005Mar9.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22110-2005Mar9.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   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.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Shiites and Stereotypes]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33566-2005Feb17.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33566-2005Feb17.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   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 nationalists. Then there was the whole kaleidoscope of the global left: the socialists, the euro-communists, the trade union leaders, the advocates of a "third way" between East and West. It was a mistake to lump them all together as "communists."]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Higher Realism]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27822-2005Jan21.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27822-2005Jan21.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   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.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Embraceable E.U.]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34023-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34023-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   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 and the European Union using -- dare one say it? -- "soft power" to compel Vladimir Putin and his would-be quislings to retreat from their botched coup d'etat.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Iraq and Averages]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4782-2004Oct3.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4782-2004Oct3.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   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.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stand Up to Putin]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21853-2004Sep14.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21853-2004Sep14.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Vladimir Putin, the aspiring dictator of Russia, has forced President Bush to reveal how committed he really is to the cause of democracy around the world.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Kerry Doctrine]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29204-2004Jul30.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29204-2004Jul30.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Someday, when the passions of this election have subsided, historians and analysts of American foreign policy may fasten on a remarkable passage in John Kerry's nomination speech. "As president," Kerry declared, "I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to; we only go to war because we have to. That is the standard of our nation." The statement received thunderous applause at the convention and, no doubt, the nodding approval of many Americans of all political leanings who watched on television.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Allies Must Step Up]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53701-2004Jun18.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53701-2004Jun18.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Critics of the Bush administration at home and abroad have long called for an early return of Iraqi sovereignty coupled with the internationalization of the assistance effort. The U.N. resolution that was passed unanimously June 8, though late in coming, does just that. What's more, the resolution reflects significant efforts by the Bush administration to meet the concerns of key nations that opposed the Iraq war in 2003. Iraq will enjoy full sovereignty after June 30, not limited sovereignty. Iraqi forces will be under Iraqi command, not the command of the multinational force. The mandate of the multinational force will expire once the political transition has been completed. And the forces will be withdrawn if the Iraqi government so desires.]]></description><author> Ivo Daalder and Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA['Lowering Our Sights']]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59795-2004May1.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59795-2004May1.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Calls for a withdrawal from Iraq are starting to pop up all over the place now and will proliferate in the coming days and weeks. I find even the administration's strongest supporters, including fervent advocates of the war a year ago and even some who could be labeled "neoconservatives,"  now despairing and looking for an exit.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Time to Save an Alliance]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61725-2004Mar15.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61725-2004Mar15.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The terrorist attack in Madrid and its seismic impact on the Spanish elections this past week have brought the United States and Europe to the edge of the abyss. There's no denying that al Qaeda has struck a strategic and not merely a tactical blow. To murder and terrorize people is one thing, but to unseat a pro-U.S. government in a nation that was a linchpin of America's alliance with the so-called New Europe -- that is al Qaeda's most significant geopolitical success since Sept. 11, 2001.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Decent Regard]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21156-2004Mar1.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21156-2004Mar1.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[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.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Divided on the War? Not Really]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13637-2003Dec18.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13637-2003Dec18.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Faithful consumers of the American media can be forgiven for believing that the Iraq war has created searing divisions in the American body politic of a kind not seen since the nation was torn apart in the later years of the Vietnam War. But is the reality division or consensus? In fact, Americans have been remarkably supportive of the Iraq war, both on the original decision to invade and on the need to keep troops in Iraq for years to come if necessary. This support was on the rise, moreover, even before Saddam Hussein was pulled out of his hole this past week.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[No George McGovern]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50126-2003Nov16.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50126-2003Nov16.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[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:]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Iraq Needs More U.S. Troops]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8782-2003Aug31.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8782-2003Aug31.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[It was just a coincidence that a car bomb killed  at least 95 people and a leading Shiite cleric in Najaf on the same morning that the New York Times headline read: "General in Iraq Says More G.I.'s Not Needed." But a few more such unfortunate juxtapositions will sooner or later force the Bush administration to do what it is now desperately trying to avoid doing: Send more American troops to Iraq.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Plot to Deceive?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26671-2003Jun6.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26671-2003Jun6.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[There is something surreal about the charges flying that President Bush lied when he claimed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Yesterday The Post continued the barrage, reporting that Defense Intelligence Agency analysts claimed last September merely that Iraq "probably" possessed "chemical agent in chemical munitions" and "probably" possessed "bulk chemical stockpiles, primarily containing precursors, but that also could consist of some mustard agent and VX," a deadly nerve agent.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Resisting Superpowerful Temptations]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60003-2003Apr8.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60003-2003Apr8.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Can the Bush administration follow its brilliant military campaign in Iraq with a smart political and diplomatic campaign after the war? It can if it avoids some dangerous temptations.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Napoleonic Fervor]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55843-2003Feb23.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55843-2003Feb23.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[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."]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Politicians With Guts]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4007-2003Jan30.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4007-2003Jan30.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[BRUSSELS -- To appreciate fully the unparalleled political and moral courage of Tony Blair, Jose Maria Aznar and the other six European leaders who called for solidarity with the United States in a statement published in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, you really have to live in Europe and feel the mood out here. Never mind that Blair, Aznar, Silvio Berlusconi, et al. planted themselves at the side of President Bush in the coming confrontation with Iraq -- at a time when polls in Britain, Spain, Italy and elsewhere around Europe show opposition to American policy running at 70 percent or higher. And never mind that they insisted America's war on terrorism must be Europe's war, too -- at a time when, as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana recently conceded, most Europeans do not feel the slightest bit threatened by international terrorism and, indeed, fear Bush more than they fear Osama bin Laden.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[War And the Fickle  Left]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31724-2002Dec23.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31724-2002Dec23.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA["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 even be morally necessary."]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[France's Dream World]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54817-2002Nov1.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54817-2002Nov1.html?nav=rss_world/columns/kaganroberts</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:09:39 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[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 months, eight months or 18 months?]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item></channel></rss>
