War on terrorism reflects, in my view, a rather narrow and extremist vision of foreign policy for a superpower and for a great democracy with genuinely idealistic traditions.

It is in the U.S. interest to engage Iran in serious negotiations - on both regional security and the nuclear challenge it poses.

Japan needs the American market and it also needs American security protection. Japan also needs America as the necessary stabilizer of an orderly world system with economies truly open to international trade.

Pessimism about America's future tends to underestimate its capacity for self-renewal.

One-sided national economic triumphs cannot be achieved in the increasingly interwoven global economy without precipitating calamitous consequences for everyone.

America's victory in the Cold War was not without painful social costs.

War triggers unforeseeable military dynamics and sets off massive political shocks, creating new problems as well as new opportunities.

The external Soviet empire lasted 45 years. It is shattered, beyond redemption or repair.

America's decline would set in motion tectonic shifts undermining the political stability of the entire Middle East.

Pakistan's political instability is its greatest vulnerability, and a decline in U.S. power would reduce America's ability to aid Pakistan's consolidation and development.