For the past three decades, Robert Kaplan, one of the most prominent American experts, wrote quite a number of political bestsellers. His main scientific interests include geopolitics, international relations, and military strategy. He regularly publishes his essays in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, National Interest and Foreign Affairs. In 2012, R. Kaplan wrote a book the title of which was "The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us about Coming Conflicts and Battles with Fate". The book had a wide resonance in many countries. During his career, Kaplan worked for leading American research centers, including Stratfor. He also served in the Defense Policy Council under the U.S. Department of Defense during the Obama presidency. Twice, in 2011 and 2012 "Foreign Policy" journal included Robert Kaplan in his prestigious list of "100 leading world thinkers". Now Kaplan works for the Eurasia Group analytical center. His sphere of interest includes but is not limited to political risks assessment.

The article analyzes his essay "Return to the World of Marco Polo and the American Military Response" recently published by "Random House".