Articles

Boston Globe: "Thirty-five years after Iranian hostage crisis, aftershocks remain"

Boston Globe: “Thirty-five years after Iranian hostage crisis, aftershocks remain”

JIMMY CARTER has called Nov. 4 “a date I will never forget.” Other Americans may not remember the date, but as a nation we are still captive to the humiliating trauma that began unfolding precisely 35 years ago during Carter’s presidency. At 10:30 on the morning of Nov. 4, 1979, several hundred young Iranians climbed the […]

Limit US armed forces to support, defense, and disaster relief

Limit US armed forces to support, defense, and disaster relief

OVER THE past half-century, American leaders have sent soldiers to fight a series of faraway wars. The balance is grim. We lost all three of the supposedly vital wars we fought — in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Our only clear victory was over the Caribbean islet of Grenada. The world is changing in ways that make […]

Boston Globe: 'Let go of grudges against Cuba, Iran'

Boston Globe: ‘Let go of grudges against Cuba, Iran’

IT IS a truism that nations should not have permanent enemies, but the United States seems to have two: Cuba and Iran. We have been in a state of controlled rage against both of them for as long as most Americans can remember. These dysfunctional relationships have much in common. Both have persisted far longer […]

Boston Globe: 'The truth behind the tinted World War II memories'

Boston Globe: ‘The truth behind the tinted World War II memories’

Many of America’s other attempts to remake the world have ended badly THIS MONTH marks the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. Over the next few years that means we will be seeing and reading a great deal about various battles and campaigns. Most of us probably won’t notice because World War […]

Al Jazeera America: ‘US coalition against ISIL shows half-hearted fight’

If we were serious about winning, we would partner with Iran How seriously the United States and its putative friends should take the threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is debatable. So is the question of how we should respond to that threat. One thing, however, is eminently clear: The […]