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MONTEREY, California - On September 20, the George W Bush administration released the National Security Strategy of the United States. A comprehensive document laying out America's foreign and security policy in the wake of last September's terrorist attacks, it vows to prevent the emergence of any future competitors, commits the US to use its military, political, and economic resources to encourage open societies and democracy, and reorients US military strategy toward preemptive actions. Analysts have likened this document to NSC-68, the blueprint by the Harry Truman administration declaring the onset of the Cold War. Nice comparison. But the circumstances are...

President George W Bush's newly released document, The National Security Strategy for the United States of America, issued on September 20, declared in no uncertain terms that the doctrine of deterrence - the bedrock of superpower relations during the Cold War years - is history. Instead, the dual doctrines of "preemption" and "proactive counterproliferation" will guide America's national security policy (rogue states, your time is up). The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be expanded to the hilt (Russia beware), and the People's Republic of China will be negotiated with on adjustments in its policy of political pluralism, human rights and,...