News Abroad

After 50 years of Earth Day, Will we Have 100?

by Kimberlee Hurley

This fiftieth celebration of Earth Day should serve as a celebration of the work that has been done. However, it should also serve as a wake-up call for the work that still needs to be done.

Has Italy Fallen, Again, to Dictatorship?

by Christopher Binetti

As a result of several factors--a tradition of temporary strongman leaders, a history of disguised dictatorship, and a unitary government for a regionally divided people--Italy has been more susceptible than other liberal democracies of falling into autocracy in the current COVID crisis. 

American Women at the UN: From Breakthrough to Dumping Ground?

by Philip Nash

More women belong in senior foreign and national security policy positions—at State, Defense, the National Security Council, and beyond—and not just at the United Nations.

The Saudis, the Jews, and FDR's Dog: The Opening of the US-Saudi Relationship

by Rafael Medoff

Recent commemorations of FDR's diplomatic meeting with King Abdul Aziz in 1945 obscure unsavory aspects of the origins of the US-Saudi relationship. 

How Will History Judge Trump’s Foreign Policy?

by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Our 46th president, whenever he or she arrives, will confront a changed world, partly because of COVID, but also because of the effects of Trump’s personality and policies.

What the "Primacy" Debate in Foreign Policy Gets Wrong

by Ken Weisbrode

Yes, let’s end “endless wars” and enhance peaceable diplomacy around the world. But let us not at the same time renounce by redefinition America’s international responsibilities and its capacity for wise, moral leadership.

The Coronavirus Pandemic, Like Other Global Catastrophes, Reveals the Limitations of Nationalism

by Lawrence Wittner

The coronavirus disaster, like the other current catastrophes ravaging the planet, might finally convince people around the globe that transcending nationalism is central to survival.

The Atomic Bomb, War Room Intrigue and Emperor Hirohito's Decision to Surrender

by David Dean Barrett

The record of the Imperial Conferences makes clear two salient facts: that Emperor Hirohito ended the war, and he ended it because of the atomic bomb.

"Rogue" Manufacturing in China: Past and Present

by Eugenia Lean

As China’s economic power grows, global intellectual property might end up looking more and more like the Chinese tradition of shanzhai in the future.

A New Lease on Life for the "Jewish Nose" Lie

by Moshe Phillips

Anti-Semitic humor helps bigotry infiltrate mainstream culture and discourse.

Getting Medieval on COVID? The Risks of Periodizing Public Health

by G. Geltner

Pundits have described fighting the pandemic in terms of “medieval” or “modern” approaches. A historian of late medieval public health explains that dichotomy is a false one, and dangerous as well.

The Cultural Constants of Contagion

by Ed Simon

Plague is, in some ways, a type of cultural absolute zero, a shared experience of extremity that does seem to offer certain perennial themes that approach universality.

Golda Meir and Women's Wartime Leadership

by Jonathan W. Jordan and Emily Anne Jordan

Are women seeking the presidency held back by Americans' mistrust of female military leadership? The example of Golda Meir suggests they shouldn't be.

Churchill, Stalin and the Legacy of the Grand Alliance: An Interview with Professor Geoffrey Roberts

by Aaron J. Leonard

Geoffrey Roberts assesses the history and legacy of the wartime alliance and political relationship between Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin.

Covering the Troubles in Northern Ireland

by Ron Steinman

I covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland for NBC News for four years, from the summer of 1969 until 1973. Even as a journalist with significant experience covering conflict, I knew I was in for a new ride.

A Gallon of Talk and a Teaspoon of Action, Then Label the Problem "Insolvable" and Plan Another Conference

by Robert Scott Kellner

What shall it avail, the latest speech-laden conference on this topic, when seventy-five years of intensive Holocaust education had no effect on Holocaust deniers and could not stop the resurgence of the virulent anti-Semitism that had infected Germany one hundred years ago?

75 Years After the Dresden Bombings

by Sinclair McKay

History in Dresen is not an abstract academic pursuit; instead, it is palpable and passionate. It matters enormously. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the horror that made Dresden – deep in eastern Germany - a by-word for annihilation.

The Travesty of the Century

by Alon Ben-Meir

Whereas the US has over the years played a central role in the effort to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, no American administration has provided such a detailed proposal, certainly not one that grants Israel all of its wish list.

How Somalis Use Theatre to Rebuild Culturally

by Farah M. Omer

Modern Somali theatre rose to prominence in the 1960s, the period following the independence and the subsequent unification of Somaliland and Somalia. By the 1970s, there were multiple shows a night in any given city and the average Somali adult was considered a regular theatre goer regardless of socioeconomic status.

Manipulation of Spanish History Has Manufactured A Constitutional Crisis

by Christopher Binetti

The history of Spain does not support the Spanish nationalist claim that Castilian is the natural language and culture for all people of the Peninsula.