Roundup

Obama’s Iraq

by Max Boot

Mosul has fallen, and al Qaeda is on the march towards Baghdad.

Neo-Zangid State erases Syria-Iraq Border, cuts Hizbullah off from Iran

by Juan Cole

A new country exists, stretching from the outskirts of Baghdad all the way to Aleppo.

Baghdad: the psychological toll of being the world’s most attacked city

by Justin Marozzi

For more than a thousand years the population of the Iraqi capital has been subject to rape, torture and indiscriminate slaughter

A War to End All Innocence

by A. O. SCOTT

The Enduring Impact of World War I

Israel needs to prepare for a wholesale breakdown of the Middle East

by Louis René Beres

The world system has been anarchic since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, but anarchy is not the same as chaos.

Russia’s sacred land

by Peter Turchin

To understand Crimea, we need an evolutionary theory of national honour. It’s irrational and deadly – but it works.

Is Iraq Actually Falling Apart? What Social Science Surveys Show

by Mansoor Moaddel

Several nationally representative surveys carried out in Iraq between 2004 and 2013 provide important facts about Iraqi orientations toward secular politics, basis of identity, Americans, and Iranians.

Flashback: What Neocons Told Us about Iraq

"This is going to be a two month war, not an eight year war."

Roundup Top 10!

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

This won't hurt a bit: the cultural history of pain

by Joanna Bourke

Speculation about the degree to which human beings and animals experienced pain has a long history.

Can Obama avoid mission creep in Iraq?

by Julian Zelizer

The history of military involvement shows that many operations that start small end big.

The Sarajevo Syndrome

by Peter Coy

The powder kegs are in place, waiting for a Gavrilo Princip to light the fuse.

The macabre world of books bound in human skin

The grim tale is not as unusual as you'd think.

Ending 50 Years of Silence About Mississippi's Freedom Summer

by Ellen Ann Fentress

For decades, black and white residents struggled to discuss the murders of three young civil-rights workers on June 21, 1964.

America’s Middle East Dilemma

by Victor Davis Hanson

Americans have a choice. 

Who Won Iraq?

by Tom Engelhardt

Lost Dreams, Lost Armies, Jihadi States, and the Arc of Instability.

The Art Hitler Hated

by Michael Kimmelman

A good deal of it what the Nazis called Entartete Kunst, or degenerate art.

Iraq and the Neocons: The Sequel

by Joseph A. Palermo

"Since many of the neocons cut their teeth inside the Reagan administration, it's hard to believe they were unacquainted with the 'strategic' contours of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s."

The long, hard slog out of military occupation

by Alan McPherson

Much like George W. Bush and his administration did in the Middle East, privately Wilson and his aides shared a vision of a Caribbean area remade in their own image.

Presidents at War -- Roundtable (Video)

What constitutes a legitimate wartime target? How do we keep Americans safe while respecting their civil liberties?