Robert Kagan Quotes

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.

wrongs life age

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.

opportunity paradise power system

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

competition power

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.

system

When President Dwight Eisenhower undermined and humiliated Britain and France at Suez in 1956, it was only the most blatant of many American efforts to cut Europe down to size and reduce its already weakening global influence.

effort

The force de frappe was little more than symbolism; it relieved neither France nor Europe from strategic dependence on the United States

force

The vast majority of Europeans always believed that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was more tolerable than the risk of removing him. But Americans, being stronger, developed a lower threshold of tolerance for Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction.

weapon majority