A new Guatemala slowly emerges
Few countries have suffered as much as Guatemala. The resignation of President Otto Perez Molina on Thursday, followed by his arrest on corruption charges, seems like just the latest episode in the long cascade of crimes, coups, revolutions, interventions, and massacres that shape Guatemalan history. In fact, it reflects something new. Political and social consciousness […]
Today’s refugee crisis is the price for yesterday’s interventions
REFUGEES ARE SURGING into Europe. More have come since the beginning of this year than in all of 2014. Scenes of their plight are as relentless as they are poignant. This is Europe’s new crisis. Immigration has also become a hot political issue in the United States, where an estimated 11 million people live without legal […]
Uzbekistan could be the next ground zero for cultural vandalism
Shock waves reverberated around the world last week after fanatics in Syria destroyed ancient ruins at Palmyra and murdered the city’s longtime director of antiquities. Just a few days later, 2,000 miles away in Uzbekistan, world culture came under a different kind of attack. The Uzbek government is taking aim at one of the country’s […]
Blame pepper for imperialism, bananas for misery
History would be very different had Western Europe not developed a taste for spices and exotic fruit. STRONG COUNTRIES ATTACK weaker ones mainly because they want more of whatever is good to have. Over centuries, that has ranged from women to gold to oil — to food. Culinary appetites have played an important role in shaping […]
When US intervention turns from bad to worse
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER a bad regime falls? In the American mindset, which tends toward mindless optimism, bad is logically replaced by good. Reality is different. Deposing oppressive regimes sometimes leads to greater oppression. This is an especially painful lesson for well-meaning Americans who believe they can liberate populations by crashing into or tearing apart foreign countries. […]
