George Frost Kennan

The American foreign policy sage was driven as much by pessimism about the US as antipathy to the Soviet Union.

Ambition, insecurity, and the perils of independence.

The great grand strategist of the Cold War believed he failed in his most important task.

Lessons from the start of the Cold War.

George Kennan made hierarchy seem seductive.

George Kennan's diaries reveal just how much he hated America.

Two differing explorations of post-WWII culture, politics, and ideals.

The type of quiet, personal, informed diplomacy advocated by George Kennan can reduce tensions with China and Russia.

NATO expansion - the trigger for Russia's attack on Ukraine?

A decade or two ago, opposing NATO expansion to Ukraine was a position espoused by pillars of the American establishment. What happened?

There are important differences between Xi Jinping’s China and the Soviet Union, but the Cold War still offers clear strategic guidance for the U.S.

The Cold War says more about how U.S. elites imagined their “freedom” than it does about enabling other people to be free.

Getting out from under the "liberal international order."

The political scientist argues that the desire of identity groups for recognition is a key threat to liberalism.

We're supposed to celebrate one of the weirdest artifacts of the Cold War.

George Kennan discusses the steps that are being taken in regards to the conflict with Iraq and questions President Bush's strategy.

James Graham Wilson makes a compelling case that the under-celebrated example of Paul Nitze is both instructive and worthy of our emulation.

On the origins of America's hegemonic foreign policy.

For decades, Kissinger kept the great wheel of American militarism spinning ever forward.

Sigmund Freud once applied his Oedipal theory to the leader of the free world.