Robert Kagan Quotations

Were Congress somehow to reject the Administration's deal in some effort to maintain a consistent principle on non-proliferation, it would have no effect on Iran's decisions. But that futile gesture would have a devastating effect on US relations with India.

Under our Constitution, military leaders have no choice but to endorse the president's decision after giving him their best advice.

Well, I think he's right to notice that there is a difference in attitudes and even in the broadest sense of world view between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Which is old and which is new is an interesting question, and I almost think that maybe he's got it backwards.

Britain has taken itself out as a major player in the international system, at least for a while, with the kind of cuts that they've made in their national security budget.

Based on all criteria - military power, economic influence, cultural dominance - America remains number one, even though other, new players are increasingly challenging it in that role.

Europe, partly because of the sort of political miracle it accomplished on the European continent, has developed a very strong faith in international institutions, international legal mechanisms, as the key to international order, and have really begun to view military power as an illegitimate form of activity, but in any case, something that is to be avoided at almost all costs.

The thing that I would say is that U.S. power is not eternal. I am not saying that it won't come to an end. Because it will.

The non-military answer in Iran is political change.

The international perception of the U.S. leadership is hobbled, ... The assumption is, the president is weak. And this has a direct and immediate impact on the way other countries deal with us.

How long that will last is another question because if they become more and more secure, they may, in fact, become more like West Europe.

Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus: they agree on little and understand each other less and less.

In my view, America has never had the opportunity to enter paradise. Europe enjoys the paradise it enjoys, in part because the United States provides the overall security that allows Europe to live in a system where military power is not a major issue.

Based on all criteria - military power, economic influence, cultural dominance - America remains number one, even though other, new players are increasingly challenging it in that role.

I left Russia in 1993 optimistic that democracy had taken hold despite the obstacles.

I think most Americans believe that although it's better not to use military force if you can avoid it, that the world simply doesn't provide us the luxury of giving away military force as an important tool of foreign policy.

It is true that I have known Straussians almost all my life. And the one thing I was taught about them from the earliest age is that they are wrong.

The thing that I would say is that U.S. power is not eternal. I am not saying that it won't come to an end. Because it will.

Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty.

International order is not an evolution; it is an imposition. It is the domination of one vision over others- in this case, the domination of liberal principles of economics, domestic politics, and international relations over other, nonliberal principles. It will last only as long as those who imposed it retain the capacity to defend it.

I believe it is still true that conflicts among major powers usually stem from geopolitical rivalries but rarely from economic competition.

If a caterpillar doesn't know its future has wings, it hardly experiences itself as land-bound.

Foreign policy is like hitting a baseball: if you fail 70 percent of the time, you go to the Hall of Fame.

When it comes to setting national priorities, determining threats, defining challenges, and fashioning and implementing foreign and defense policies, the United States and Europe have parted ways.

When you have a hammer, all problems start to look like nails. But nations without great military power face the opposite danger: When you don't have a hammer, you don't want anything to look like nails.

When you have a hammer, all problems start to look like nails.