Eliot A. Cohen
Cohen is the author of Supreme Command, Conquered Into Liberty, The Big Stick, and other works on military history and national-security policy. He created the strategic-studies program at Johns Hopkins SAIS and served as the school’s ninth dean. He has also served as the counselor of the Department of State and in other positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community. His next book, Rough Magic, is a study of Shakespeare’s treatment of the acquisition, use, and loss of political power.
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The Atlantic Cut the Baloney Realism
Russia’s war on Ukraine need not end in negotiation.
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Alex Wong / Getty The Words About Ukraine That Americans Need to Hear
Wars are won by deeds—but also by persuasive moral arguments.
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AFP / Getty Putin’s Regime Faces the Fate of His Kerch Strait Bridge
The attack on the crucial link between Russia and Crimea matters less for its tactical significance and more for what it says about the course of the war.
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Gavriil Grigorov / Sputnik / AP Russia’s Nuclear Bluster Is a Sign of Panic
Yielding to Putin’s blackmail would be folly.
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Getty; U.S. Department of State; The Atlantic Putin Is Cornered
The West faces a simple choice: reduce aid to Ukraine and deliver Russia a victory, or else finish the job it has begun.
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Paramount via Everett Let’s Use Chicago Rules to Beat Russia
Why the U.S. adversary is a lot like Al Capone
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Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Getty Who Perseveres, Wins
It is up to liberal democracies to support a country that is fighting for all who share its values.
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Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty What Victory Will Look Like in Ukraine
There will be no return to normalcy or status quo ante.
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Diego Herrera / Xinhua / Eyevine / Redux This Is the War’s Decisive Moment
The United States and its allies can tip the balance between a costly success and a calamity.
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Aris Messinis / AFP / Getty Don’t Let Up Now
The West must do what it takes to help Ukraine prevail.
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Gleb Garanich / Reuters Why Can’t the West Admit That Ukraine Is Winning?
America has become too accustomed to thinking of its side as stymied, ineffective, or incompetent.
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Reuters America’s Hesitation Is Heartbreaking
As the leader of NATO and of the free world, the United States needs to think much bigger than it has thus far.
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Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times / Getty The Strategy That Can Defeat Putin
The U.S.-led coalition of liberal-democratic states should pursue three objectives.
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Getty; The Atlantic Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man
Why did so many observers misjudge Putin and Zelensky?
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Alexei Nikolsky / TASS / Getty Arm the Ukrainians Now
The U.S. must support an insurgency that will cause Russia to regret any attempt to crush democracy and independence.
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Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Putin’s No Chess Master
Some believe Putin has not only Ukraine, but the whole West, exactly where he wants it. A more balanced consideration is in order.
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John Taggart / Bloomberg / Getty The Rot of Democracies
If America succumbs to its internal divisions, to its preoccupation with partisan feuding and its desire to withdraw from international politics, the world order, such as it is, will crumble.
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Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla / U.S. Marine Corps … A Dishonorable Exit
Honor demanded America rescue Afghans who served alongside us and assist those who took chances on their country because we asked.
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Seamus Murphy / VII / Redux A Moment for Soul-Searching
The United States owes its Afghan allies careful scrutiny of its institutional and personal failures—without recrimination, but also without excuses.
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Ben Brody ‘How Does One Process Defeat?’
A letter to a civilian who deployed to Afghanistan
