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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 – 3/10/10

by Nick Ducote
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Four years after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities, the Soviet Union explodes its first nuclear weapon at a test range in Kazakhstan. That the Soviet Union obtained “the bomb” is not surprising, but the timing of the test is. Most U.S. intelligence assessments at the time concluded Moscow was at [...]

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Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Around the Web, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Brazil, Early Cold War: 1945-1961, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, Gerald Ford administration: 1974-1977, Harry Truman administration: 1945-1953, Iraq War: 2003-present, Jimmy Carter administration: 1977-1981, John Kennedy administration: 1961-1963, Korean War: 1950-1953, Late Cold War: 1961-1991, Lyndon Johnson administration: 1963-1969, Military affaris, National Security, Nuclear policy & WMD, Policymaking--American, Post-colonial Third World, Propaganda and cultural diplomacy, Public Opinion, Terrorism | No Comments »

The Peace Prize in Historical Perspective

by Molly Wood
Friday, October 23rd, 2009

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize: President Barack Obama.  The initial reaction was largely one of surprise, followed quickly by criticism.  Some suggested that Obama should turn down the prize.  Others began to interpret the award as a non-too-subtle indictment of former President George [...]

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Posted in Anti-War Efforts, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Disarmament, Domestic groups and organizations, Peace and dissent, Public Opinion, Theodore Roosevelt administration: 1901-1909, Vietnam: 1961-1975, Wilsonian Era: 1913-1921 | No Comments »

Process, Policy, and the Burdens of History in Latin America

by Dustin Walcher
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

After three months in office, Barack Obama traveled to Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009 to attend the Fifth Summit of the Americas.  Already his presidency had been consumed by issues of major importance, both at home and abroad; Obama no doubt spent his days thinking about the global economic crisis, wars in Iraq and [...]

Posted in Americas, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Central America & Caribbean, International Economic Relations, International Trade and Economics, Policymaking--International, Post-9/11: 2001-present, Public Opinion, South America, World Trade Organization | No Comments »

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