Roundup: Historians' Take

Juan Cole: McChrystal Advises Escalation of Aghan War

I have some basic questions about the "take, clear and hold" strategy that seems to be recommended in Afghanistan by Gen. Stan McChrystal, and which is modeled on the alleged lessons of Iraq. The Sunni Arabs of Iraq, who produced most of the insurgency against the US presence and the rise of a new Shiite government, amount to less than 20 percent of Iraq's population of 27 million. In other words, they are about 5 million strong. The compact Sunni areas such as al-Anbar P

Victor Davis Hanson: 'Senator High And Mighty'

[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.] By now almost everyone has weighed in on the legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who passed away this week after a year-long struggle with a cancerous brain tumor. Liberals eulogized that Kennedy's legislative legacy is unquestioned and has now transcended partisan bickering. In their postmortem acclamations, Kennedy was recognized as a larger-than-life senator who charmed his Senate colleagues

Nick Turse: Apologies, Anger, and Apathy, My Lai and Lockerbie Reconsidered

[Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch.com and the recent winner of a Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction as well as a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Nation, In These Times, and regularly at TomDispatch. A paperback edition of his book, The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives (Metropolitan Books), an exploration of the new military-corporate complex in America, has recently been published

Jonathan Dresner: Soft and Fuzzy Historic Events

[Jonathan Dresner is Associate Professor of History at Pittsburg State University, where he teaches World History on a regular basis. His research is on Japanese social history of the Meiji era (1868-1912).] Last time I lived in Japan, the LDP lost control of the Diet, and for a year and a half there was a Socialist Prime Minister in charge of an implausible coalition between the Japanese Socialist Party (JSP) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The Democratic Party of Japan, wh

Robert A. Kapp: Obama in China: Friendly Advice

After Barack Obama’s inauguration, we ran a series at China Beat of various China experts’ reading recommendations for Obama on China (See installments I, II, III, IV, V, VI). At the time, we assumed a trip to China would be one of Obama’s top priorities–as is now clear with last week’s announcement that Obama will visit China in November 2009. So we sent out a few emails to China watchers from a variety of backgrounds, asking if they had advice for Obama as he prepares for the summit in Bei

Barry Rubin: Why Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State is a Prime Requirement for Israel-Palestinian Peace

[Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.]One of Israel’s highest priorities in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is recognition by the PA and Arab states as a “Jewish state.” The purpose of this demand is to ensure a lasting peace with Israel as it exists rather than some formal declaration which would thereafter be subverted in every possi

Julian E. Zelizer: Why Democrats Hate Summer

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book,"Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. You can learn more about Zelizer at www.julianzelizer.com.]Obama’s mid-year train wreck puts him in the inglorious company of previous Democratic presidents. How the heat derailed Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, t

Julian E. Zelizer: Senator Kennedy and Legislative Liberalism

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. You can learn more about Zelizer at www.julianzelizer.com.] Today President Obama honored the late Senator Ted Kennedy by calling him "the greatest legisl

Edwin Black: Government Death Panels and Mass Murder Were Always an Option in 20th Century America's War Against the Weak

This article is based on the award-winning bestseller 'War Against the Weak--Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race' The summer of 2009 has been rife with misplaced fears about government death panels arising from proposed insurance reform. These fears are not based on anything in the proposed legislation. But government death panels and mass euthanasia were always a public option during the first decades of the twentieth century. This campaign to exterminate

Mark LeVine: US shifting stance on settlements

[Mark LeVine is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, HNN blogger, and author, most recently, of Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House 2008) and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009).] The US has long seen itself as playing a crucial role in bringing about Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yet, US policy toward Israeli actions in and around Jerusalem has shifted over time.

Jay Winik: Kennedy for the Ages

[Mr. Winik, a presidential historian, is the author of "April 1865" (Harper Perennial, 2006) and "The Great Upheaval" (Harper Perennial, 2008).] Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday at the age of 77, was like a cat with nine lives who used every one of them. He came from a family touched by greatness, even as it was riddled with unfathomable tragedy. He was the torchbearer for liberalism, even when it was a fad

Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom: NIMBY Comes to China Revisited

[Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, the Editor of the Journal of Asian Studies, and the author, most recently, of Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: A History in Fragments (2008) and China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know (forthcoming from Oxford University Press). He is co-founder and regular contributor to The China Beat: Blogging How the East is Read.] Many things have happened in the PRC this year that e

John Q. Barrett: Jackson List: "Fool's Errands" & Innocence in American Law

[Mr. Barrett is the editor of the memoirs of of Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. He is a Professor of Law at St. John's University in New York City, where he teaches constitutional law, criminal procedure and legal history, and he is the Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York.] For the Jackson List: In 1989, off-duty Savannah, Georgia, police officer Mark MacPhail, responding to a report that a homeless man was being beaten

Michael Parenti: Italian American Identity: To Be or Not To Be

[Michael Parenti is the author of twenty-one books including The Assassination of Julius Caesar (New Press), The Culture Struggle (Seven Stories), Contrary Notions (City Lights), and God and His Demons (Prometheus Books, forthcoming).] In the 1950s and early 1960s, it was the accepted view among many social scientists that, as ethnic assimilation advanced, ethnic group identities would fade away. But in fact, ethnicity continued to impact significantly upon political life. Why was

Stanley Kutler: Why Rendition?

[Stanley Kutler is E. Gordon Fox Professor of U.S. Institutions and author of The Wars of Watergate and other writings.] Two front-page New York Times (August 25, 2009) stories appeared concerning our treatment of alleged terrorists and past practices of torture. First, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the naming of a special prosecutor to investigate the long-ignored, long-suppressed, and now much redacted Inspector General's report of the Central Intelligence Agency's physic

Andreas Umland and Ingmar Bredies: Democratic Ukraine, Autocratic Russia: Why?

[Dr Andreas Umland is a lecturer in contemporary East European history at The Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Upper Bavaria, general editor of the book series “Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society”, and co-editor of the German-Russian journal"Forum for the Ideas and History of Contemporary Eastern Europe".] The last years' developments in the former Soviet Union were fascinating for the specialist and might have puzzled the layman: Why have Europe's two larges

Juan Cole: Palestinians Plan State, but Will Netanyahu Block it?

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, has put forward a plan for a Palestinian state to be attained within 2 years. This is the first time such a blueprint with a timeline has been offered and it is a very big deal. The reason it can be taken more seriously than most talking points generated by the Israeli-Palestinian 'negotiations' (the longest-running ugly divorce in contemporary history) is that President Obama is dedicated to a two-state solution. If he is going to get one, something

Frederick W. Kagan: We're Not the Soviets in Afghanistan

[Frederick W. Kagan is a contributing editor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.] Comparisons between our current efforts in Afghanistan and the Soviet intervention that led to the collapse of the USSR are natural and can be helpful, but only with great care. Below are a number of key points to keep in mind when thinking about the Soviet operations, especially when considering the size of the U.S. or international military footprint.

Ruth Dudley Edwards: Ted Kennedy loathed Britain - so why did Gordon Brown knight him?

[Ruth Dudley Edwards is an Irish historian and journalist.] Sometimes it is right to speak ill of the dead. The truth matters, even when it is deeply unsavoury. The truth about Ted Kennedy is certainly unsavoury. Not that you'd know it from yesterday's tributes, dominated by sycophantic humbug. 'A great and good man,' said a fawning Tony Blair. 'A true and constant friend of the peace process in Northern Ireland,' said Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Wood

Sean Wilentz: Triumph And Tragedy ... The Seesaw Life Of Edward M. Kennedy

[Sean Wilentz is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and the author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (Norton) and The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 (Harper).] Over the past 40 years, Edward Moore Kennedy was the grand statesman of the Democratic liberalism that emerged out of the 1960s. He was a loyalist to his principles even when those principles fell completely out of fashion. He overcame personal flaws and searing travails to become a masterfu