foreign policy

Henry Kissinger: A War Criminal Still at Large at 100

by Greg Grandin

Henry Kissinger was instrumental in Nixon's decision to undertake the illegal bombing of Cambodia. His foreign policy machinations also led him to push Nixon to the actions that led to Watergate and the president's downfall, though Kissinger has remained unaccountable. 

Chad Williams on W.E.B. DuBois and the First World War

Michelle Moyd and David W. Blight comment on Chad Williams's discussion of DuBois's unfinished manuscript about the deep questions of race, democracy, and world affairs raised by the first World War. 

Ukraine has Never been America's War

by Lawrence Wittner

A historian of diplomacy and peace movements argues that efforts to blame the war on American imperialism don't stand up to scrutiny. 

The Path from Isolated Nationalism to Global Citizenship is Hard but Necessary

by Lawrence Wittner

International organizations and social movements have pointed the way to a future in which national boundaries do not interfere with the ability of humanity to survive and solve global problems like climate, hunger, and the threat of annihilatory war. 

What Iraq Should Teach Advocates of Foreign Policy Restraint

by Joseph Stieb

Many advocates of a less assertive role for United States power in the world point to Iraq as an example of the folly of intervention. But if they want to make their views a reality, they need to understand why pro-war arguments succeeded by offering a solution to Americans' post-9/11 fears and anxieties. 

David Allen: What Happened to Democracy in Foreign Policy?

by Daniel Bessner

The idea that ordinary Americans should have a say in the nation's role in the world is dismissed out of hand by the foreign policy elite. But what if the problem isn't the complexity of world affairs, but the American elite's rejection of democracy? 

The 2003 Iraq Invasion Was the Culmination of a Long Betrayal

by Noah Kulwin

Although the UK backed the US invasion of Iraq, that nation had been supplying weapons to Saddam Hussein since the 1980s to advance anti-Iranian policy in the middle east. Before the invasion, the government worked to cover those tracks. 

O'Hanlon: Policymakers Need to Know More History

by James Thornton Harris

"Studying war in this way should humble us about our ability to control and contain it in the future," says the Brookings Institution scholar, who urges security policymakers to read as much history as they can. 

We're Living in the World (un)Made by the Iraq War

Three New Yorker writers look at the impact of the Iraq invasion, from the rise of Trump to the collapse of public trust in experts and authority. 

Aside from Bush and Cheney, Who's Most Responsible for Iraq?

Historians, journalists, and international relations scholars assess whether lesser-known figures in government, media and intelligence deserve more blame for the Iraq invasion. 

Biden Should Remove Cuba from List of State Sponsors of Terrorism

by Guillaume Long

After Obama removed Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, Trump reinstalled it for petty political reasons. The Biden administration should reverse the decision again. 

Why George Kennan Thought He Failed His Biggest Challenge

by Patrick Iber

After urging the United States to firmly oppose the expansion of Soviet influence as a way of bringing the USSR's internal weaknesses to the forefront, Kennan grew disillusioned at the militarized tack later versions of "containment" took. A new book revisits and challenges canonical studies of the diplomatic thinker. 

How is the Biden Doctrine Working after Two Years?

by Matt Duss and Stephen Wertheim

After pledging to reorient foreign policy around the global issues affecting Americans – climate, disease, and ending "forever wars" – progress toward a Biden Doctrine has been incremental. 

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."

Will the Republican's Tilt Toward Isolationism End?

by Waller R. Newell

The Republican Party's fracturing between the remaining neocons and a younger group of isolationists comes at a critical moment when Russia is testing the possible limits on its expansive ambitions. 

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. 

Understanding Colombia's Truth Commission Report after 60 Years of Civil Conflict

by Rachel Nolan

Colombia's armed conflict between government forces, leftist rebels, and paramilitary death squads is the world's longest continuous conflict. The nation's massive Truth Commission report undermines decades of official government narrative about the apportionment of blame for atrocities. 

How Ideology Shapes America's View on the World

Christopher McKnight Nichols, Raymond Haberski, Jr., and Emily Conroy-Krutz join host Jeremi Suri of the University of Texas, Austin to discuss what ideology is, and explore the ways in which it has shaped, and continues to shape, America’s role in the world.

Sending Dictators to a Luxury Retirement? More Practical Than You Think

by Brian Klaas

From a realistic point of view, approaching dictators in crisis with an offer of a safe and luxurious retirement is the best way to spare their countries the violence and economic pillaging that accompany the bitter end of an autocratic regime. 

Walter Russell Mead: Non-Jewish Interest Groups, not "Israel Lobby" Drive Hawkish US Mideast Policy

Rejecting the idea of a Jewish-led "Israel Lobby" Mead emphasizes the historical influence of American Christian zionists and militarists in tilting America's mideast policy toward the goals of the Israeli right.