international relations

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• SOURCE: Jacobin
  3/20/2023
  

  Iraq Discredited Liberal Interventionists. Why are they Still in Charge?

  by Daniel Bessner

  "War for oil" explains only part of the push to invade Iraq in 2003; the ideological belief that American militarism serves a noble and righteous cause appealed to many liberals. That general belief has been frustratingly immune to 20 years of exposure of facts about the falsehoods that sold the war. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/7/2023
  

  Ignoring International Relations Scholars is Leading the US to Mistakes on Ukraine

  by Max Abrahms

  Punditry on the Ukraine-Russia war ignores a host of scholarship on international relations that suggests Russian apprehension about NATO is a legitimate influence on Putin's actions, and not just an excuse for aggression. 

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• 3/5/2023
  

  Whose "Red Lines"?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Far from promoting clarity and stability, when powerful nations declare "red lines" in their dealings with the world they declare their intentions to impose their will on others. Peace-promoting red lines must be drawn by more robust international cooperation. 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  2/28/2023
  

  America Remains Trapped by the Dream of Global Hegemony

  by Andrew Bacevich

  American victory in World War II remains a source of dangerous myths and delusions about global supremacy. Both popular culture and foreign policy need to adopt the Iraq War as a less affirming, but more realistic, touchstone. 

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• SOURCE: The New Republic
  2/14/2023
  

  Review: Can Robert Kagan Reboot Interventionism?

  by Samuel Moyn

  "All along, not much ever separated neocons such as Kagan from a nationalist such as Trump, except the pretense that what is good for the United States, including all its war-making, is good for the world." But does the public buy it? 

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• 2/6/2023
  

  Can the Ukraine Crisis Push the UN To the Reforms it Needs to Remain Relevant?

  by Gary B. Ostrower

  The United Nations' power to prevent war has long been subordinated to the protection of traditional national sovereignty. Will instability push the powerful nations on the Security Council to accept change? 

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• 1/29/2023
  

  On Ukraine, International Law is Against Russia—But to What Consequence?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  If the United Nations can define the rules of international relations, but sufficiently powerful nations can flout them without consequence, it's time for a change in global governance. 

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• 1/22/2023
  

  Do Sanctions on Russia Portend a Return to the Interwar Order of Trade Blocs?

  by Carl J. Strikwerda

  The economic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a new Cold War. But a better—and scarier—analogy might be the drastic contraction of global trade and the rise of colonial and imperial trade blocs between the World Wars. 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  1/3/2023
  

  The Ghosts of Kennan and Lessons of the Cold War

  by Frederik Logevall

  George Kennan was instrumental in defining the doctrine of containment, but later objected to the bellicosity undertaken in its name. Key parts of his intellectual journey have remained obscure; a new book tries to examine them and draw lessons for foreign policy today. 

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• SOURCE: Catalyst
  12/20/2022
  

  The Redistributive Agenda of the New International Economic Order, and How the IMF Thwarted It

  by Sarah Babb

  Henry Kissinger responded diplomatically to demands from Third World nations for changes in trade and investment rules to alleviate inequality with a pragmatic approach that recognized inequality as a major issue, but prevented poor nations from forming a united front or organizing around their more radical demands. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/7/2022
  

  Gaddis Smith, 89: Legacy of Teaching and Modernizing at Yale

  "Dr. Smith was a Yale institution. He arrived on campus as a freshman in 1950, received his doctorate from the university in 1961, and, aside from a short teaching stint at Duke, never left."

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• 12/4/2022
  

  What's New About Putin's Nuclear Threats? Just that the US is on the Receiving End

  by David P. Barash

  From the American perspective, the seeming danger of Putin's nuclear saber-rattling is partly due to the novelty of being on the receiving end. 

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• 12/4/2022
  

  Can the World Stop Imperialist War?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  It's past time to finish the halting progress made a century ago to rally international cooperation against imperial aggression. The stakes are too high to leave peace in the hands of individual nations. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  11/21/2022
  

  The US-China Relationship: Why It Collapsed, How it Can Be Fixed

  by Jake Werner

  The split between the US and China precedes the leadership of Biden, Trump, and Xi, as politicians in both countries have increasingly come to see the others' prosperity as a threat. Solving the split requires looking to the problems of global market capitalism that exacerbated the rift. 

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• SOURCE: Public Books
  10/27/2022
  

  Small Nations, Big Feelings: America's Favored European Nations Before Ukraine

  by Madelyn Lugli

  "Feeling patriotism for a foreign country is, when you think about it, odd."

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  10/15/2022
  

  Ukraine Isn't Munich, Berlin, or Vietnam: The Limits and Dangers of Historical Analogies

  by Christopher David LaRoche

  Analogies are vital cognitive shortcuts that enable us to comprehend complexity. But their usefulness means we risk transposing biases and fallacies about the past onto how we understand the present. 

• 
• 10/16/2022
  

  Bye Bye, World: Will Humanity Continue to Tolerate the Risk of Nuclear War?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Since the dawn of the nuclear age, broad-based disarmament movements have demanded a world without the threat of nuclear annihilation. Will the governments of powerful nations lead the way to realizing that goal? 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  10/11/2022
  

  Don't Forget about the Nuclear Danger over Taiwan

  by Michael Klare

  Ukraine isn't the only potential nuclear flashpoint. The United States and China need to begin negotiations to limit the risk around the conflict over Taiwan's status. 

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• 10/9/2022
  

  There Are Alternatives to War

  by Lawrence Wittner

  The Ukraine war points to the urgent need to reform the United Nations so it can serve as a true global organization with the power to ensure peace. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  9/21/2022
  

  Biden's Taiwan Rhetoric Risks Antagonizing China For No Gain

  by Stephen Wertheim

  The United States' "One China" policy is ambivalent, awkward and dissatisfying. But it's served to prevent a destructive war for decades. Biden's recent comments threaten to destabilize the arrangement.