Category Archives: Foreign Policy
Ken Burns’s War Stories
[Original version at History News Network, 21 September 2017] I began my first book on Vietnam (Masters of War) with a poem, Adrian Mitchell’s “To Whom It May Concern”: You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out. You … Continue reading
Does Russia Matter?
Memes aren’t great ways to learn a lot about history or politics, though they’re used that way a lot. Still, some are funny and make a good point in a few lines in a way that might take paragraphs otherwise. … Continue reading
Huddled Masses–Keep Out!
Not since I had to remember and recite “The New Colossus” in elementary school have I seen so many references to Emma Lazarus’s poem on the Statue of Liberty as in the past week. “Give me your tired, your poor, … Continue reading
“. . . to maintain this position of disparity”
George Kennan is one of the more important diplomats (and scholars) in the history of U.S. foreign relations. Best known as the “father” of the Cold War policy of “containment,” Kennan was the ultimate “cold warrior” of the immediate postwar … Continue reading
They’ve Hated Us . . . (Postscript: Hillary and Israel)
A few days ago I discussed a document about “resurging” anti-Americanism in the Arab world, juxtaposing it with Barack Obama’s warning of a “new phase” in Middle Eastern terrorism after the Paris andSan Bernardino attacks. The memorandum, sent from the … Continue reading
“Violence is As American As Cherry Pie”: Here and There
A Collinsville, Illinois mob dragged Robert Prager out of his home in 1918, paraded him around town, and lynched him dead. Prager was a German immigrant during World War I who proudly flew the American flag, but spoke with an … Continue reading
