News Abroad

British And American ‘Imperialisms’ Compared

by Bernard Porter

Whether or not the US can be labelled an ‘imperialist’ power today matters very little, I think. It’s mainly a matter of semantics. The word ‘imperialism’ is used today in a confusing variety of ways, by some of

Axis of Hypocrisy—Russia, US, UK, Italy, France Urge Israeli Restraint

by Edward Olshaker

“Russia, France, Britain, Italy Criticize Israel’s “Disproportionate Use of Force” --AFP headline, July 14, 2006This week marks the anniversary of a massacre eerily connected to today’s news—the July 18, 1994 terrorist bombing of the seven-story Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 95 people and wounding more than 200. A similar bombing in March 1992 destroyed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people. The governmen

Which Side Are We On in the Struggle for Women's Rights

by Steven Conn

For the last several years, the United States has depicted the battle against terrorism as a contest pitting free societies against those who would impose Islamic rule on the world. But across the globe right now the epochal struggle is not between Islam and the West, but between those societies in which women are free and those in which they are repressed. Women's lives are controlled in those nations observing some form of Islamic law. The Taliban first came to the wo

The War on Women

by Ruth Rosen

Abu Ghraib. Haditha. Guantanamo. These are words that shame our country. Now, add to them Mahmudiya, a town 20 miles south of Baghdad. There, this March, a group of five American soldiers allegedly were involved in the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza, a young Iraqi girl. Her body was then set on fire to cover up their crimes, her father, mother, and sister murdered. The rape of this one girl, if proven true, is probably not simply an isolated incident. But how would we know? In Iraq, r

Why We Should Contain, Not Corner, North Korea

by Michael Creswell

North Korea’s recent missile launches, though expected, have captured international attention. The White House has confirmed at least seven missile launches, with perhaps more to come. One of them, the Taepodong-2, which allegedly has a range that could allow it to reach U.S. soil, exploded shortly after launch. It is this long-range missile that particularly worries the White House. Yet these worries are overblown. The United States can easily deter any threat North Korea poses to Am

25,000 Die from Hunger Every Day

by William Lambers

Imagine living off little or no food, day after day. In the Sudan there are at least several million people at risk for hunger after fighting in that country between rebels and the government. But Sudan is not alone. Hunger claims 25,000 lives every day across the globe. The war against hunger needs to escalate. The United States must lead the international community in this fight. The fight against hunger is crucial to the United States as it actively promotes freedom and democracy w

If Deterrence Doesn't Work with Terrorists, What then?

by Harvey Simon

North Korea's unsuccessful test launch of its intercontinental ballistic missile on July 5 only delays the inevitable. Soon Pyongyang will have a missile that can reach the United States and when it does a Second Cold War will begin.The failed launch buys the United States some much needed time to revise its strategy for coping with a new set of nuclear-armed enemies.The world survived the first Cold War in large measure because the United States faced rational opponents who d

Why We Will Win the War on Terror

by Larry Schweikart

If, in June 1942, you looked at where things stood militarily in the Pacific, you probably wouldn't have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. The U.S. had just handed Japan a solid defeat at Midway, but at the cost of one more carrier, leavi

The Ambiguities of "Cut and Run"

by Thomas Michael Holmes

Karl Rove's recent "cut and run" accusations against the Bush administration's Democratic opponents ought to be answered. What one person sees as "cut and run" might be seen by another person as a responsible decision; it's all in the eye of the beholder. Let's examine some relevant recent history.   Did Dwight D. Eisenhower "cut and run" in Korea in 1953? It was Ike who told the nation that if he were elected he would go to Korea and, b

Is a History Lesson What's Dividing the U.S. and Iran ?

by Dino E. Buenviaje

For the Bush administration, its conflict with Iran began with news of the Iranian nuclear enrichment program. For Iranians, the conflict started in 1901 when the British took advantage of a weak government to obtain a highly profitable oil concession. Since then, Iran has been locked in a struggle to control its own destiny, even at the risk of confrontation with the international community.   In persuading the Iranian government to be more forthright with its nuclear program

The American Civil War, Reconstruction, and Iraq: A “Teachable Moment”

by Gary J. Kornblith

Every so often one hits upon a way to make past events “relevant” in the classroom only to discover that in doing so, one begins to reevaluate one’s own views about both historical and current events.  I had such a moment on April 12, 2006, in my course on the American Civil War and Reconstruction.  The class was discussing a group of readings on the “dynamics of Confederate defeat.”  I asked if Confederate defeat was inevitable, a pretty standard

Why the Whiskey Rebellion Is Worth Recalling Now

by William Hogeland

The conflict in Iraq has inspired a strange-bedfellow alliance, opposing the Bush administration's war policy with bold words about peace, liberty, and American history. Antiwar.com, a forum embracing right-wing libertarians, leftist doves and many in between -- it claims 100,

The Rise of Integral Anti-Americanism in the Russian Mass Media and Intellectual Life

by Andreas Umland

Ultranationalism among Russian youth and, to a lesser degree, in party politics as well as nascent official activity against xenophobia are receiving increasing attention by Russian and Western observers. Alarmed by the growing number of victims among foreign students, visitors from abroad and immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Americas, the Putin administration has started to take action against escalating skinhead violence. The Kremlin-directed Russian mass media reports now on a daily b

Are Islam and Democracy Incompatible? Some Reflections from Ottoman History

by Timothy R. Furnish

As the American occupation of Iraq has entered its fourth frustrating year, some conservative commentators have joined the Bush Administration’s detractors on the left and given in to despair about ever incubating democracy in a majority-Muslim country. In this view “our failure to establish liberty and justice for all in Iraq—namely, freedom of conscience and freedom before the law—is dueto the nature of Isla

Iraq, History and the Members of the United States Congress

by Ed Pompeian

Excerpts from the debate in both the Senate and the House last week on the Iraq War. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) Mr. President, I don't have a dog in this fight, you might say, but I have been listening to this debate, and I wonder about history. I wonder about the amendment of the Senator from Florida. I remember reading so clearly that after the War Between the States, the North lined up those from the South and took their guns and let some of the

Imperialism and the Corruption of Democracies

by Herman Lebovics

Today, a bit more than a half century since the postwar tsunami of decolonization, we are seeing systematic efforts in former imperialist nations to rehabilitate their colonialist pasts. Just two examples of many more: Niall Ferguson has devoted the energy that his Scottish ancest

Iraqization Now

by Andrew Meyer

Melvin R. Laird, Defense Secretary under Richard M. Nixon, noted in a recent issue of Foreign Affairs (Volume 84, Number 6, November/December 2005) that the current Bush policy of “stand up, stand down” in Iraq is structurally indistinguishable from the strategy of “Vietnamization” Laird himself forged during that prior conflict. I would agree with him, though for different reasons, that the outcome of Vietnamization should not engender absolute skepticism of

The Manchurian Columnist Takes Off His Mask

by Jim Sleeper

“We have all been raised on stories in which good triumphs over evil… because honesty… and decency pay off in the long run,” wrote our newest foreign-policy realist, David Brooks, on June 8. Only in fairy tales do people “who lie, torture, and kill eventually become entrapped by their own sins,” he cautioned. In Iraq, “savagery seems to be triumphing over decency.” By the time you read this, Brooks will surely have added that the fortuito

The Lessons of Mr. Polk's War

by Jeffrey Mankoff

An American president, using politicized intelligence, launches a war on specious pretexts. American forces occupy the enemy capital but cannot impose a political settlement or extricate themselves from an increasingly expensive and unpopular war. Meanwhile, on the home front, partisan and sectional rancor increase. Even though the United States is ultimately victorious, the war exacerbates already deep divisions, laying the foundation for civil war. This is not some dystopian vision of

Why Haditha Reminds This Historian of an Awful Chapter in British History

by Keith David Watenpaugh

While many historians and commentators are drawing parallels between the alleged slaughter of unarmed civilians by US Marines in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year and the My Lai Massacre of the Vietnam War, a better guide – in terms of scale and cultural context - for how reaction to this atrocity might play out in both America and Iraq may be the Dinshaway Incident of British-occupied Egypt in 1906. In the summer of that year, a group of British Army officers went on a pigeon hunt n