Present Dangers

by Kagan, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781893554160
• ISBN10: 1893554163
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Encounter Books

Summary

With each passing day the world seems to become a more perilous place. Russia implodes and China expands; North Korea develops missiles capable of striking Hawaii and Alaska; and Iraq perfects weapons of mass destruction that could be smuggled into New York in a suitcase. Yet America, the most powerful country in the world, also at times seems the most uncertain when it comes to protecting itself from these threats. In this book, Robert Kagan and William Kristol have compiled twelve provocative and sobering essays, all original for this volume, from intellectuals, historians and policy-makers such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Donald Kagan and William Bennett that challenge America to take a hard look at the coming crises in our foreign policy. This book makes the case for repairing our depleted military, for a crash program of missile defence to shield us from random attack, and for a complete rethinking of whom our possible adversaries and real strategic partners are. This book makes sure that foreign affairs, a sleeping issue for the last eight years, gets a wake-up call in election year 2000.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
I. An Overview
Introduction: National Interest and Global Responsibility	3	(22)
William Kristol
Robert Kagan
The Great Divide: American Internationalism and its Opponents	25	(22)
James W. Ceasar
II. The Mounting Threat
China: The Challenge of a Rising Power	47	(28)
Ross H. Munro
Russia: The Challenge of a Failing Power	75	(24)
Peter W. Rodman
Iraq: Saddam Unbound	99	(12)
Richard N. Perle
Iran: Fundamentalism and Reform	111	(34)
Reuel Marc Gerecht
North Korea: Beyond Appeasement	145	(34)
Nicholas Eberstadt
III. Allies and Military Assets
Europe and NATO: Saving the Alliance	179	(18)
Jeffrey Gedmin
Asian Allies: True Strategic Partners	197	(24)
Aaron L. Friedberg
Israel and the ``Peace Process''	221	(20)
Elliott Abrams
The Decline of America's Armed Forces	241	(26)
Frederick W. Kagan
Weapons Proliferation and Missile Defense: The Strategic Case	267	(22)
William Schneider
IV. American Leadership: Strength and Principle
Morality, Character and American Foreign Policy	289	(18)
William J. Bennett
Statesmanship in the New Century	307	(30)
Paul Wolfowitz
Strength and Will: A Historical Perspective	337	(26)
Donald Kagan
About the Authors	363	(4)
Notes	367	(20)
Index	387