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Muckety Mucks

Commentary

Can Egypt and Syria Be Saved?

What the experiences of Mubarak and Assad can teach us about revolutions.

No Revolution at the Pentagon

Four reasons why defense-budget cuts may not be as dramatic as expected.

Crushing the Radical Axis

The alliance of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas has been dealt a blow by the Arab Spring. Will it prove fatal?

Essays

Why We Exist

The National Interest stands for realism in U.S. international relations, a conviction that foreign policy should be based upon real-world considerations—forces, pressures and passions emanating from factors of culture and geography.

Rethinking the Pakistan Plan

U.S.-Pakistani relations are in crisis. Strategic fear of India prevents Pakistan from bending to U.S. demands. Easing India-Pakistan tensions could change the dynamics of the U.S.-Pakistan alliance.

The Seoul Nuclear Summit

Obama has emerged as champion of securing vulnerable nuclear materials. Two years after his Washington summit on this arcane but important matter, national leaders will descend on South Korea to track progress and fashion goals for the future.

Reviving the Peace Process

Obama can take credit for several foreign-policy triumphs, but he has failed to revive the moribund Mideast peace process. Arguments for why it can’t be done crumble against the imperative of American presidential leadership.

Putin and the Uses of History

“I do not need to prove anything to anyone,” declared Vladimir Putin. Convinced he is the steward of his country’s future, Putin masters Russia’s history—and seeks to manipulate it.

Triumph of the New Wilsonism

No national interest was cited as a rationale for America's Libya campaign; the action was justified solely on humanitarian grounds. This marks a fundamental break with past U.S. policy prescriptions for such military interventions.

Books & Reviews

Death by Irrelevance

Rockefeller, Lindsay, Scranton—just three of the “moderates” who failed to keep the GOP from the clutches of Goldwater and Nixon. Geoffrey Kabaservice laments their defeat with a wistfulness that obscures from him their true frustration.

Eyes and Ears of the Arab Spring

The English-language news channel of Al Jazeera consistently is first on the scene of Mideastern developments, and its journalists provide smart analysis of global events. It may be today’s most influential television-news operation.

The Contradictions of George Kennan

George Kennan presents a study in paradox. With penetrating scholarship, John Lewis Gaddis explores Kennan’s complex psychology and provides an intellectual history of the Cold War in his comprehensive and wonderfully written biography.

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February 13, 2012