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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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News

SHAFR PLANS EVENTS AT 2010 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OAH

February 8, 2010

SHAFR will host two events at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Washington, D.C., in April 2010:

–Reception (cash bar): Friday, April 9, 5:30-7:30 pm.  Members and friends are invited to enjoy intelligent conversation over refreshments.  The location will be announced as soon as it is set by the OAH.  This year, graduate students who are registered for the OAH meeting will be offered a complimentary beverage by SHAFR.  Members are encouraged to invite graduate students to attend.

– Luncheon: Saturday, April 10, 12:00 noon-1:30 pm.  Elizabeth Borgwardt of Washington University will deliver the annual Stuart L. Bernath Memorial Lecture.  SHAFR President Andrew Rotter will preside.  SHAFR will also present the Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize, the Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize, the Stuart L. Bernath Article Prize, the Myrna Bernath Book Prize, and the Robert Ferrell Book Prize.

Tickets must be purchased through the OAH.

SHAFR OPPORTUNITIES IN SUMMER 2010

September 1, 2009

SHAFR will sponsor two major academic events in Summer 2010. The third annual Summer Institute, co-directed by Jeffrey A. Engel of Texas A&M University and Mark A. Lawrence of the University of Texas at Austin, will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 18-23, 2010. The institute is designed for graduate students and early-career faculty. The Call for Applications is posted here.

SHAFR will also host its annual conference, at the at the Pyle Conference Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on June 24-26, 2010. The Call for Papers is posted here.