News Abroad

Iran, Again

by Lee Allen Zatarain

Could China Have Anticipated the Earthquake--And Prepared for it?

by Peter Navarro

Iranian anti-Semitic Bloggers: From Mickey Mouse's Plot to Gaddafi's Jewishness

by Hamid Tehrani

Iranian anti-Semitic blogs reveal important information that can help us gain a better understanding about the roots and dynamism of anti-Jewish sentiment in Iran. 

Why Food for Peace Must Remain an American Priority

by William Lambers

The United States says it will be scaling back food donations to impoverished countries because of soaring food prices. This announcement deals a devastating blow to the survival of people in many countries who depend on food aid. In nations like Sudan and Afghanistan, peace and stability hinge on preventing hunger. Despite the financial burden for the United States, it is urgent that we continue to provide food to countries in need if we intend to nurture peace. Americans have risen to

John McCain Discovers Nuclear Arms Control and Disarmament

by Lawrence S. Wittner

On May 27, in a major public address delivered at the University of Denver, Republican presidential candidate John McCain took what appeared to be a strong stand in favor of nuclear arms control and disarmament.In the speech, McCain argued that "it is our responsibility to build" a world in which there are "far fewer" nuclear weapons "than there are today." Therefore, he said, "the time has come to take further measures to reduce dramatically the nu

Deja Vu: Our Misplaced Good Intentions in Iraq

by John Agresto

Everything seems so different now. From my room here in Sulaimani, in Kurdish Iraq, I can look down the street to the dilapidated green domed Shiite mosque and, from there, to the more prosperous Sunni mosque not too far behind it. Up the street is Kurdish Cultural Center next to the Chaldean Catholic church, next to the headquarters of the Communist Party. Overlooking it all is a heavily treed compound that everyone says is the CIA headquarters. No one seems to think t

The True Story of the Iraqi Civil War

by Priya Satia

The fundamental fallacy at the heart of our current (and dangerously dwindling) conversation about Iraq is that we are policing a civil war. This is the premise of Democratic calls for withdrawal as much as Republican demands for further entrenchment. The term “civil war” distorts the reality of ongoing resistance to American occupation. It proclaims that the problem is not us—not our consistent failure or, God forbid, our desire to stay in Iraq—but that untamabl

Which of the Values for Which We Fight Will Survive the Conflict?

by Jules R. Benjamin

It is very difficult to justify a war on the basis of values that the war undermines. The Bush administration wished to destroy the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. His advisors considered Saddam as some vague combination of a threat to the U.S. and an opportunity to assure U.S. preeminence in the Middle East. Republics do not fight wars for preeminence. Thus evidence was collected to demonstrate to the people and Congress that the war would eliminate an imminent and serious threat. Ind

George W. Bush and "Appeasement"

by Joseph Palermo

George W. Bush's remarks before the Israeli Knesset, where he charged Barack Obama with "appeasement" for seeking diplomatic alternatives to war with Iran, shows that despite his abysmal approval ratings and lame duck status he is going to insert himself into the politics of 2008. That might be a good thing for the Democrats.Obama's call for negotiations with Iran has been welcomed by governments throughout the world and follows the advice of the conservative "Iraq Stud

Advice for What the Next U.S. President Should Do About Iran

by Michael Axworthy

The only way to be sure of preventing Iran's acquiring a nuclear weapon capability is to reject those calling for military action--and to negotiate a comprehensive settlement of all outstanding disputes between Iran and the USA, such that both sides can resume normal relations on a basis of mutual respect at least, and friendship if possible.

A Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

by Lawrence S. Wittner

Although few people are aware of it, there has been considerable progress over the past decade toward a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons. For many years, there had been a substantial gap between the pledges to eliminate nuclear weapons made by the signatories to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1968 and the reality of their behavior. To remedy this situation, in 1996 the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy—the U.S. affiliate of the International Associatio

Historians Against the War: Georgia Conference (April 2008)

by Jim O'Brien and Margaret Power

Historians Against the War (HAW) held its second national conference, titled “War and Its Discontents: Understanding Iraq and the U.S. Empire,” at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, April 11-13, 2008. The conference was co-sponsored by the Peace History Society. Forty-six different colleges and universities and several high schools from all over the country were represented among the panelists, who also include

Should Jimmy Carter Have Talked with Hamas?

by Scott Kaufman

President Jimmy Carter is no stranger to controversy. Since the mid-1980s, he has been an outspoken critic of those aspects of U.S. foreign or domestic policy of which he does not approve. In recent years, this has included the decision of President George W. Bush to invade Iraq, Dick Cheney’s record as vice-president, and the impact of Christian fundamentalism upon the United States. In the last week, he has aroused renewed debate over his decision to travel to Syria and meet with Kha

Why Guernica Speaks to Us Now More than Ever

by Ian Patterson

Humankind (as T.S. Eliot said) may not be able to bear very much reality, but fantasy has never had it so good — or so powerful. Unfortunately, fantasy is not extricable from reality, and imaginary aims can have real consequences, especially in war. Look at the American tactic of “shock and awe” that was going to have such a rapid and devastating effect on Iraq that it would force Saddam Hussein to capitulate within days, after which peaceful Western-style democracy would sprin

What's Left of Bush's Democracy Agenda?

by Daniel Mandel

The other month in Cairo, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed at a press conference that the Bush Administration had quietly waived a congressional hold on $100 million in military aid to Egyp

The Coming Age of Preventive War

by Thomas M. Nichols

The French president threatens nuclear retaliation against state sponsors of terror. His Russian counterpart makes thunderous vows to strike first at any threats to Russia anywhere on the planet. The Ethiopians, with Wester

The Olympics: A Return to Ethics: Character, Principles, and Consequences

by William Thompson

Public administration scholar James Svara advances the notion that moral duty should be defined within a triangle bounded by concerns for three factors: character, principles, and consequences.*   The three factors are illustrated in the philosophies of Aristotle, Kant, and Bentham.  All the factors must be considered if ethical choices are to be made.  However, the factors may conflict with one another, and leaders are often guided by one or two sides of the triangle in t

Predicting China’s Fate in the Year of 08/08/08

by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom

Let’s pretend that, twelve months ago, someone had put me in a room with 20 or so other China specialists, handed us each three slips of paper, and asked us to write on each piece a story with a Chinese theme that we predicted would make headlines in 2008, the year when the Beijing Olympics will start on August 8. It’s quite possible that the following would have happened:

Our March of Folly in Iraq

by William J. Astore

This week’s two-part series on Frontline, “Bush’s War,” reminded me of Barbara Tuchman’s warning (The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam) about the persistence of “wooden-headedness” in history, attributable in our case to the limits of our country’s historical and cultural imagination. A telling moment came as the Frontline commentators discussed what was euphemistically termed “regime change.” Anyone with a rudimentary k

Is Industrial Civilization a Pyramid Scheme?

by Eric Zencey

If I said to you, "give me a thousand bucks today, and in 45 days I'll give you $1500," you'd think I was stupid or crooked or both. That kind of interest rate works out to a phenomenal 2466% per year, and it's what Carlo Ponzi offered investors in Boston in 1920. If I said to you, "give me a barrel of oil today, and in a month and a half I'll give you a barrel and a half back," I'd be making the same deal--but, thanks to the generous Energy Return on Investment of