News Abroad

Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima

by Matthew Penney and Mark Selden

On April 12, 2011 the Japanese government officially announced that the severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had reached level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale.  Before Fukushima, the only level 7 case was the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, whose twenty-fifth anniversary was marked on April 26.  Two and a half months after the 3/11 catastrophe, the first to affect multiple reactors, TEPCO and the Japanese government continue to struggle to bring the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi under control.

Ass-Backwards in the Middle East

by Ira Chernus

Tuches aufn tish: Buttocks on the table. That’s the colorful way my Yiddish-speaking ancestors said, “Let’s cut the BS and talk about honest truth.”  It seems like a particularly apt expression after a week watching the shadow-boxing between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that brought no tangible progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Danger in the Lowground: The Japan Earthquake in Historical Context

by Gregory Smits

The March 11, 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and the tsunami it generated was a classic case of natural hazards such as severe ground motion and seismic sea waves coming into contact with human society to produce a multi-dimensional natural disaster. Throughout Japanese history, writers often initially referred to such events as “unprecedented.” As time passed, other commentators would point out that in fact such events were “normal” in that they occurred repeatedly in the past. Similarly, this paper seeks to provide historical context for the recent disaster in two broad senses.

Militarist Madness

by Lawrence S. Wittner

Despite the vast rivers of blood and treasure poured into wars over the centuries, the nations of the world continue to enhance their military might.

The Ghost of Geronimo

by Marcus Daniel

“We have a visual on Geronimo,” Leon Panetta told the President from his windowless command center at CIA headquarters, adding a few minutes later: “Geronimo EKIA [Enemy Killed In Action].”  President Obama responded: “We got him” and, presumably, the small, casually dressed group surrounding the President, cheered and congratulated one another.  A short while later, in front of the White House, ecstatic crowds of young Americans gathered spontaneously to celebrate, waving the Stars and Stripes, chanting “USA, USA, USA” and raising their fists and fingers in the air to indicate to t

Washington Court Culture and Its Endless Wars

by William J. Astore

The killing of Osama bin Laden, “a testament to the greatness of our country” according to President Obama, should not be allowed to obscure a central reality of our post-9/11 world.  Our conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Libya remain instances of undeclared war, a fact that contributes to their remoteness from our American world.  They are re

The Bin Laden Killing and American Exceptionalism

by Michael H. Hunt

Ding Dong, but Which is Dead?

by James Livingston

The Ironic History of Palestine

by Alan H. Luxenberg

The real stumbling block to the creation of a Palestinian state are Palestinians—Hamas, in particular.

Channelling George Washington: What Bin Laden's Death Means

by Thomas Fleming

“Who killed Osama bin Laden?” “I had a feeling you’d be following this story, Mr. President.  I also suspect the answer you have in mind isn’t an obvious one.”

A Tale of Two Mother's Days in Norway and Afghanistan

by William Lambers

Afghanistan and Norway shared news headlines this week, one for better, the other for worse.  Norway was ranked the best place in the world to be a mother, while Afghanistan was rated the worst.These were the findings from a report by Save the Children, which measured the health of mothers and their children in countries around the globe.  In Afghanistan, a country torn apart by years of conflict and poverty, women and their babies suffer from lack of health care and nutrition. 

Did Torture Work?

by Alexander Boulton

One of the important concepts that I have tried to impress upon my students over the course of over twenty years of teaching history at the college level is the idea of cause and effect.  History is a line of successive events, each one caused by preceding events, and the cause of those that follow.  In my classes, I stress the importance of scrupulously evaluating all the evidence to fully understand the line of causation leading to important historical events.

A Better Way to Have Dealt With Osama bin Laden

by Steven I. Levine

Geronimo, Bin Laden, and U.S. Foreign Policy

by Daniel S. Margolies

Afghan Expert Thomas Barfield on Bin Laden's Death

by David Austin Walsh

Thomas Barfield is professor of anthropology at Boston University and the author of Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. I spoke to Professor Barfield by phone about the death of Osama bin Laden.

The Killing of Osama Bin Laden

by Deepak Tripathi

Ten years after the dreadful events of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden is dead.  His killing in a CIA operation in the Pakistani colonial city of Abbottabad, about thirty miles from the capital, Islamabad, brings closure for relatives of many thousands of victims of al Qaeda violence around the world.  It will be seen as ultimate justice for the man viewed as the chief perpetrator of international terrorism for two decades.  The sentiment is understandable, even justified.  However, there is a larger truth.

Osama's Spectacular Failure

by Gil Troy

Osama bin Laden died a spectacular failure. While his predecessor Yassir Arafat proved that terrorism can work, bin Laden proved terrorism’s limits.  Osama killed more people more flamboyantly than Arafat.  But, under Arafat, the Palestinians blasted their way onto the world’s agenda.  Osama’s nihilistic terrorism was so destructive it hurt his cause, miring Islamism in a bog of death and destructiveness.  Osama’s blood-splattered biography taught the world important lessons, including:  

Japan's Colonial Legacy in Korea Still Endures

by Mark Selden

At a time when territorial conflicts in East Asia repeatedly raise tensions between China and Japan (Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands), North and South Korea (the Northern Limit Line) and Japan-Russia (the Northern Islands/Kurils), it is worth recalling that disputes continue to simmer not only between long-time rivals, but also among allies.

Mourning China's Dead Ideals This May Fourth

by Lionel M. Jensen

The Fourth of May usually marks a day of celebration in China.  For the families of Ai Weiwei, Liu Xiabo, Liu Xiaoyuan, Gao Zhisheng, the hundreds who have vanished in the shadows of a government driven by fear, this year it is simply another painful day in the grim rite of awaiting word.  The date signals the national recollection of the May Fourth Incident, an event that ignited a joyous movement of university students and their teachers demanding an end to their country’s political weakness and the embrace of the modern ideals of democracy, gender equality, and science. 

More Pentagon Follies

by William L. O'Neill