Secretary of Defense Gates referenced the need for the application of Smart Power in a Nov 26, 2007 speech in which he stated:
“… I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use “soft” power and for better integrating it with “hard” power. …. or as John Hamre once put it, to combine the tools of “intimidation” with the tools of “inspiration,” also called smart power
Examples on the application of Smart Power provided in the following articles:
Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure(Washington Post)
…Karen DeYoung. The United States should construct a combination of incentives and pressure to engage Iran, and may have missed earlier opportunities to begin a useful dialogue with Tehran, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.
Gates Urges More Nongovernmental Contacts With Iran (Reuters.com)…Arshad Mohammed, Reuters
… Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on Wednesday for more unofficial contacts with Iran, saying this might eventually open a pathway to more substantive dialogue between the governments.
US Defense Secretary Urges More Private US Contacts With Iran (Yahoo.com)…Agence France-Presse
…”We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage with the Iranians and then sit down and talk with them,” he said in a talk at the American Academy of Diplomacy, referring to general US relations with Tehran.
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