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SHAFR Opinion

Germany to Greece: Drop Dead

by William Glenn Gray

Germans have chosen to work; Greeks have chosen leisure. For this reason, Germans are furious with Greece for accumulating an unsustainable debt burden and thereby undermining the solidity of the European currency. But the self-righteous anger in Berlin may itself call into question the political basis of the Euro.

Posted in European Union, Foreign aid, Gerald Ford administration: 1974-1977, Germany, Greece, International Economic Relations, International Organizations, International Trade and Economics, Western Europe | No Comments »

Diplomats Among Warriors

by John Prados

In Afghanistan at the moment (February 2010), U.S. Marines, allied troops, and Afghan government soldiers are embarked on an offensive at a town called Marja in Helmand province. American commander-in-chief General Stanley A. McChrystal here makes the first expression of the strategy that underlies the appeal for reinforcements that led to the Obama administration “surge” [...]

Posted in Afghanistan, Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Early Cold War: 1945-1961, Historiography, Military affaris, Terrorism, Theory and Ideas | No Comments »

Is Wartime a Time to End Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?

by Mary Dudziak

As the Obama Administration moves (slowly) toward repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, one argument in opposition is that the nation is at war, and significant changes in the military should not take place during wartime. One response to that point is that all hands are needed during heightened military deployments, and it harms American [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Bill Clinton administartion: 1993-2001, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, Military affaris, Terrorism | No Comments »

Beware Presidents’ Use of History

by John Prados

We are told that history plays as tragedy and repeats as farce. But perhaps that is changing. In the summer of 2007 President George W. Bush invoked the Vietnam analogy to justify an equally or more tragic war in Iraq. And in the West Point speech announcing his new strategy for Afghanistan, President Barack Obama [...]

Posted in Afghanistan, Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Terrorism, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vietnam: 1945-1961, Vietnam: 1961-1975 | No Comments »

The State Department Wants You! (or does it?)

by Molly Wood

In October 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama promised a new approach to American foreign policy.  “It’s time to make diplomacy a top priority,” he announced.  “Instead of shuttering consulates, we need to open them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world. Instead of having more Americans serving in military bands than the diplomatic [...]

Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Iraq War: 2003-present, Post-9/11: 2001-present, State Department, Theodore Roosevelt administration: 1901-1909, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Afghanistan and the Chinese Civil War

by William Stueck

Any political historian will tell you that government decisionmakers frequently use historical analogies in making up their minds and that, more often than not, they do so badly.   And Kimber Quinney reminded us in her thoughtful November 9 commentary that historians are not immune to employing such analogies either, or in doing so badly.
Yet as [...]

Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Central Asia, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, Harry Truman administration: 1945-1953, Imperialism/Colonization, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Twenty Years On: Merkel in Washington

by William Glenn Gray

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the idea of creating new structures for a post-Cold War world is still quite radical. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s approach represents a familiar way of doing business, one that continues to bank on the essential unity of “the West.” But is it effective?

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

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Weekly Digest – 2/8/10

by Nick Ducote
Monday, February 8th, 2010

President Barack Obama’s decision not to attend a planned summit between the United States and the EU in May–and the testy European reaction to that decision–underscores “the unrealistic expectations” that have been in play between Europe and the United States since Obama took office. [more]
Predictions of America’s decline are vastly overstated. Asia is indeed increasing [...]

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Posted in Afghanistan, Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Arms Control, Arms Trade, Around the Web, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Bill Clinton administartion: 1993-2001, China, Europe, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, Japan, North Korea, Southeast Asia | No Comments »

What Obama Might Learn from the Past: Bending History in the Direction of Justice

by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

It is the nature of the political process that presidents campaign outside history and must then live within it. For Barack Obama, this meant promising a speedy withdrawal from Iraq, a stronger focus on defeating Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, firm but respectful relations with Russia and China, engagement with opponents like Iran, and progress with our [...]

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Posted in Afghanistan, Argentina, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Brazil, Chile, China, Early Cold War: 1945-1961, Europe, European Union, Franklin Roosevelt administration: 1933-1945, George H. W. Bush administration: 1989-1993, Germany, Human Rights, Indochina, Iran, Iraq, Japan, North Korea, Op-Eds, Post-9/11: 2001-present, Roundtable, Russia, South Korea, Vietnam, Vietnam: 1945-1961, Vietnam: 1961-1975, World War I: 1914-1918 | No Comments »

What would happen if Kim Jong-il tested a Nuke and the United States Didn’t Notice?

by William Stueck
Monday, May 25th, 2009

Okay, President Kim, so you’re really ticked off at my failure to comment on your prior shinanigans on the SHAFR blog. You win. I’m finally going to advise the Obama administration on how to respond to your recent, alleged, test of a nuke, and in public on the SHAFR blog.
Darth Cheney to the contrary notwithstanding, [...]

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Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, China, North Korea, Russia | No Comments »

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