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SHAFR Opinion

Why Do We Fight in Afghanistan?

by Susan Brewer

More people have been asking that question lately. For years Americans have been told that despite setbacks we are making progress there. Making progress toward what, people wonder. What is the mission of the United States in Afghanistan? After more than a decade since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom, it is worth revisiting what [...]

Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Biographies / Memoirs / Diaries, Central Asia, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, United States | No Comments »

A Center-Left Leader, Missed Opportunities, and Anti-Americanism: A Possible new Direction in U.S. Policy Towards the Western Hemisphere?

by James Siekmeier

I received an email from a former colleague and friend of mine recently who concluded that Lula’s (Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva) two terms in office as President of Brazil (2003-2010) represented a missed opportunity for the United States–and United States-Latin American relations in general. Here was a center-left leader, in one of the world’s [...]

Posted in Americas, Brazil, South America, Uncategorized | No Comments »

A New Cold War at the Water’s Edge?

by Andrew Johnstone

An essential rule for politicians: always make sure the microphone is off.  On March 26 at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Barack Obama was overheard discussing missile defence with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. With an open mic, Obama told Medvedev “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”[1] Russia currently [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Domestic politics, Mitt Romney, Post-9/11: 2001-present, Ronald Reagan administration: 1981-1989, Russia | No Comments »

Is the System the Solution? Past Policies, Current Dilemmas, and Inter-American Relations in the 21st Century

by James Siekmeier

More than 20 years have passed since the last full-fledged U.S. military intervention in Latin America (Panama, 1989, in case your memories are hazy).  Starting in the 1980s, democratization flowered in the region for numerous reasons—but mostly internal reasons based in Latin American history and society. Starting in the 1990s, with the end of the [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Visions of War

by Susan Brewer

On December 15th President Barack Obama welcomed home U.S. troops from a war he once had called “dumb.” His speech avoided the reasons why the Iraq War was fought and focused instead on honoring the American servicemen and women who fought it.  Inspiring words–“extraordinary achievement,” “honor,” “sacrifice,” “finest fighting force,” “unbroken line of heroes,” “progress [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Iraq, Iraq War: 2003-present, Middle East, Post-9/11: 2001-present | No Comments »

Newt Gingrich and the (ab)Uses of History

by Andrew Johnstone

It is an honor to join the SHAFR blogging team for 2011-12.  While SHAFR is (as the name makes perfectly clear) a society that focuses on the history of American foreign relations, there is no doubt that we are as well placed as anyone to make connections between historical events and contemporary issues in American [...]

Posted in Presidency, Public Opinion | No Comments »

Issues for the 2012 Presidential Election

by Nick Sarantakes

The United States of America is about to enter a presidential election year.  Actually, it already has entered the political season.  The election of 2012 will most likely turn on economics, but as Andy Johns pointed out in his blog, foreign policy is always important and next year’s contest will be no different.  In addition, [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, China, India, Middle East, North Korea, Pakistan, Policymaking--American | No Comments »

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Germany to Greece: Drop Dead

by William Glenn Gray
Monday, March 8th, 2010

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.

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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 »

Weekly Digest: 11-3-09

by Nick Ducote
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

The mess that is Afghanistan just got messier for Washington.  Abdullah’s withdrawal from the presidential runoff leaves Hamid Karzai in power but without legitimacy. [more]
There is a new humanitarian crisis unfolding in Somalia, and the United States is partly to blame. Despite sending $2 million and 40 tons of arms and ammunition to the country’s [...]

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Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Africa, Around the Web, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Culture and international relations, Foreign aid, Horn of Africa, Ideology, International Economic Relations, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Post-colonial Third World, State Department, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Weekly Digest – 9/21/09

by Nick Ducote
Monday, September 21st, 2009

President Barack Obama’s trip to the United Nations this week is the most significant by a U.S. president since September 2002. That year, President George W. Bush challenged the world body to prove its continued “relevance,” by enforcing its resolutions against Iraq. [more]
Last week’s flare-up in China-US trade tensions might derail critical conversations at the G20. [...]

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Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Around the Web, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Eastern Europe, Financial Policies, Foreign aid, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, Human Rights, Ideology, International Economic Relations, International Trade and Economics, Military affaris, Poland, Revolutions, Ronald Reagan administration: 1981-1989, Russia, United Nations | No Comments »

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