[FarCenter]

>>”Just leave us alone” does not work as a basis for personal security or in foreign policy.

“Think and act as we do, or we will force you to” does not work as a basis for personal security or in foreign policy either.

[Rockingham]

Making others think and act as we do is not the core tenet of American foreign policy or of personal security. Yet one cannot ignore that China and Russia are threats because of their autocratic systems and the thugs ruling them. And the whole point of domestic criminal justice is to separate out the thugs so that ordinary, law-abiding people can go about their lives unhindered.

As for Donald Kagan, his academic background was as a classicist specializing in the Peloponnesian War, the great conflict between Sparta and Athens and the subject of Thucydides' foundational work of history. Having read both Thucydides and much of Kagan's work I have considerable respect for both.