Boston Globe: ‘Are human rights activists today’s warmongers?’
ALMOST EVERYONE likes the idea of human rights. The phrase itself is freighted with goodness. Supporting human rights is like supporting world peace. The modern human rights movement began as a band of outsiders, fighting governments on behalf of the faceless and voiceless. President Jimmy Carter brought it into the American foreign policy establishment by […]
Al Jazeera America: ‘There is no Comparison Between Syria and Rwanda’
Comments by US envoys reveal deep ignorance of both crises Watching the news from Syria over the past three years has been excruciating. An ancient nation is tearing itself apart, eagerly abetted by outside forces, and the civilian population is paying a horrific price. The United States has made only halfhearted efforts to promote a […]
Boston Globe: ‘Russia acts like any other superpower’
IN THE idealized world, borders are sacrosanct, and all countries are fully independent. The global system does not really work that way. Big powers always try to subdue their weaker neighbors. They seek a sphere of influence — a ring of buffer states that need not be vassals but must, in the end, accept the […]
Boston Globe: ‘Strength at home is strength abroad’
THE ARC of American history is short and, in one important way, deceptive. It suggests that the United States will keep growing and progressing forever — that it will alwas dominate the world as it does today. None of this is pre-ordained, however. The rise and fall of nations is one of the immutable patterns […]
Boston Globe: ‘On CIA abuses, denial does Americans no favors’
BECAUSE I’M a wonderful guy, I don’t like people suggesting that I’ve ever done anything wrong. Countries are the same way. Yet if we frankly acknowledge our mistakes, we may avoid repeating them. But this can be painful. It feels better to gloss over unpleasant aspects of our history and pretend that we are either […]
