Interview with Robert Kagan
Robert Kagan is a top adviser to John McCain and is author of The Return of History and the End of Dreams.
We talk with him today about his new book about diplomacy and power in the 21st century. He also discusses Russia, China, Japan, India, and Iran and how life is going to be more complicated than some people thought back in the 1990's. He gives his analysis of how the candidates are doing in terms of foreign policy and gives some useful advice on what they need to know right now. Kagan is a great interviewee and his book is terrific for those of us who are not experts in this area. It is clear, informative and really lays out some of the issues we will face in the coming years in terms of foreign policy.You can listen directly -- no downloads needed -- by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player. You can download a copy and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. And you can get a lo-fi version suitable for dialup, etc., by going here and selecting "lo fi." And you can always get a free subscription from iTunes. Free!
Music is by Mobius Dick. Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com.
posted by Helen at 8:57 AM
7 Comments:
I have not read the book, so my comments will be based upon what I heard in the podcast.
That said, I have some problems with his analysis of some things.
First, his analysis of the kind of rule that Putin offers. He talks about how people living in liberal democracies (clearly talking about people living in the US and other liberal democracies) have trouble with the idea that people want to live under autocrats. Yet, who are we (speaking about people living in the US and some other western countries) to talk about autocratic leaders? It is very easy to talk about autocratic governments because they stand out. Most autocratic rulers have been harsh ones and should be criticized for being so. Yet, how often are people willing to compare the actions of autocratic rulers to rulers in other countries with similar or dissimilar governments? How often are we willing to use the same set of standards when judging autocratic rulers and popularly elected governments? Why is it that he can say that Putin is wrong for believing in a strong central-government yet be apologetic about Americans and their politicians (or Canadians, or Germans, or the British)? Having an autocratic form of government or popularly elected form of government is irrelevant when one looks at the behavior of said government. It's certainly possible to have a popularly elected government be more oppressive than many autocratic governments.
Why should we care if some countries are autocracies? An important question; a very flawed answer. I'd certainly agree with him when he says that we care because we believe others are being oppressed and that we believe in universal rights (I'm going to assume that those universal rights that he's referring to are natural rights). We here in the States certainly give our share of lip-service when it comes to opposing oppression. Yet, how is oppression defined? Is it the loss of the right to life? Is it the loss of the right to liberty? Is it the loss of the right to property? Is it the loss of two of the three? The loss of all three? He said that our nation was founded on those principles, which, again, I agree with. Yet, almost from the very beginning, our government was busy trying to curb those rights (and has continued to do so at an alarming rate). In fact, I'd challenge anybody to find a country with a government that did confine itself to operating only in the sphere of protection of those three basic rights. I don't think that government exists. That said, who are we, or anybody for that matter, to involve ourselves in trying to fix others' problems?
As for his description of McCain's awareness about other nations (both as standalone nations and as they relate to the US), I don't think it needs to be said that he is clearly mistaken. McCain has made many egregious errors when talking about foreigners and history. McCain is no better than Obama, and in fact may be worse. Obama clearly doesn't have the experience. McCain, based on the things that he's said, has nothing but bad experience.
Well, I'll take what we have here over an autocracy. Our rights are eroding. Liberals, to me, believe the government should be more in control of our lives. I do not, I cannot understand, how and why they can believe that.
Well, I'll take what we have here over an autocracy.
For the time being...
We need to always remember that democracies are just as dangerous to our rights as any other form of government. Democracy is a tool for the just and the righteous as much as it is a tool for the wicked and corrupt. Since our government is no longer based upon natural rights (and has arguably never been), all that it will take is a majority of voters in favor of a particular policy or politician and your rights will be taken away.
Someone should leave a copy of The Return of History on Obama's bedside table. Great interview! Thank you.
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