Roundup

Cold War Strategies Are Back in Russia's Playbook

by Alexander Golts

The theory that history unfolds first as a tragedy and then repeats itself as a farce is not always true. Sometimes, history repeats its tragedy all over again, and with the same terrible consequences.

GOP’s 30-year spin job is over: Why we are not a center-right nation

by Joshua Sager

From minimum wage to the environment to abortion, America is far more liberal than the media or the right admit.

Inert Obama seems to think being on the right side of history is enough

by Charles Krauthammer

History doesn’t act autonomously. It needs agency.

America’s Flight 17

by Fred Kaplan

The time the United States blew up a passenger plane—and tried to cover it up.

Wishful Thinking About Natural Gas

by Naomi Oreskes

Why Fossil Fuels Can’t Solve the Problems Created by Fossil Fuels

“You could blackmail LBJ”: The other Nixon scandal behind the Watergate scandal

by Ken Hughes

In 1971, Richard Nixon ordered another politically motivated burglary in hopes of saving his reelection.

This is your brain on racism: Inside the mind of modern bigotry

by Stephen Eric Bronner

From Mel Gibson to Donald Sterling: What are the ingredients that fuel bigotry in contemporary America?

How Nicky and Willy could have prevented World War I

by Graham Allison

One hundred years ago this week, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany exchanged a series of telegrams to try to stop the rush to a war that neither of them wanted.

Gaza: Why a ‘Cease-Fire’ is Not enough

by Juan Cole

Israel has no strategic war aims in Gaza because it has no large scale, long term strategy concerning the Strip.

The Impeachment Vogue

by Jeff Shesol

Some on the right welcome impeachment.  Peter Rodino in 1974 did not.

Infographic: The History of Light

The infographic takes us back to the beginning when cave people lit their way with the use of insect lamps.

Sundays With The Christianists: American History Textbooks That Leave Reality To Other People

Time for another look at the ruinous near-decade of prosperity under Bill Clinton, as refracted through the Truthiness Lens of rightwing Christian textbooks.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

Heterosexuality in America: Fifty Years and Counting

by Marc Stein

In October 1964, two years after “The Furtive Fraternity” was “exposed,” one of the most interesting and revealing responses to “Homosexuality in America” also was published in Philadelphia.

Palestine in 1896 (Video)

First film footage taken in Palestine (Lumier Bros.).

The Supreme Court’s Coming Paralysis

by Jeff Greenfield

Why there’s really no chance President Obama will be able to appoint another Justice to the bench, regardless of what happens in November.

NYT columnist says people who keep an eye on the past make better investors

by Carl Richards

It turns out that simply knowing a lot about money and personal finance doesn’t guarantee a better financial outcome.

Tom Clancy, Military Man

by Andrew Bacevich

Clancy was among the first to intuit that the antimilitary mood spawned by Vietnam represented an opportunity.

Revanchism and Its Costs

by Carlin Romano

"Revanchism," from the French word revanche, or revenge, arose in the late 19th century as a description of aggressive political desire to regain territory, possibly by force, lost to another state.

From Kerry to Selena Gomez & Rihanna, Israel’s Claims of Precision, Compassion are Dissed

by Juan Cole

You always wonder where John Kerry the anti-Vietnam War activist went, who compared the US campaigns in Southeast Asia to the predations of the Mongols.