An unsentimental foreign policy means that in the coming decade, the president must identify with a clear and cold eye the most dangerous enemies, then create coalitions to manage them. This unsentimental approach means breaking free of the entire Cold War system of alliances and institutions, including NATO, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations. These Cold War relics are all insufficiently flexible to deal with the diversity of today’s world, which redefined itself in 1991, making the old institutions obsolete.
The Americans should try to divert threats from the United States and to enable the balance of power in the world.
To create alliances in which the United States maneuvers other countries into bearing the major burden of confrontation or conflict, supporting these countries with economic benefits, military technology, and promises of military intervention if required. To use military intervention only as a last resort, when the balance of power breaks down and allies can no longer cope with the problem.
A quick war is more humane than a long one. That’s where conventional virtue fails.