Roundup: Historians' Take

Priya Satia: Iraqis are too shrewd to fall for an ‘invisible’ occupation

[The writer is assistant professor of history at Stanford University and author of Spies in Arabia.] W e are at the beginning of the end. On Tuesday, US troops left Iraq’s cities, and in two years they will leave the country. Or so the official story goes. In reality, most of the “withdrawing” forces are merely relocating to forward operating bases where they appear to be hunkering down for a long entr’acte offstage in expensive, built-to-last facilities. Stil

Andreas Umland: Averting a Post-Orange Disaster: Constitutional Reforms and Political Stability in Ukraine

[Andreas Umland is the general editor of the book series Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society and a co-editor of the German-Russian journal Forum for the Ideas and History of Contemporary Eastern Europe. He also administers the website Russian Nationalism, which contains extensive information on recent trends in Russian radical right-wing thought and politics.] After several years of impressive economic growth and encouraging political change, Ukraine has recently entered tro

Abbas Milani: An intellectual history of the Green Wave (Re: Iran)

[Abbas Milani is Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University.] What we are witnessing right now in the streets of Tehran is, first and foremost, a political battle for the future of the Iranian state. But closely linked to this political fight is also an old theological dispute about the nature of Shiism--a dispute that has been roiling Iran for more than a century. Shiism, like most religions, is no stranger to heated schisms. Shia a

Lawrence S. Wittner: Nuclear Disarmament Activism in Asia and the Pacific, 1971-1996

[Lawrence S. Wittner is Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany.  This article is adapted for The Asia-Pacific Journal from his new book, Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement (Stanford University Press).] Although the worldwide campaign against nuclear weapons was in the doldrums during the early 1970s, the antinuclear move

Edwin Black: North Korea Missile Threat Against Hawaii and Alaska Has Been Expected for Ten Years—Iran Regime a Full Partner

Edwin Black is the New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, Nazi Nexus and The Plan: How to Rescue Society the Day the Oil Stops—or the Day Before. He can be reached at www.edwinblack.com. In a frantic race with high winds, bone-chilling ice storms and rattled political nerves, the American defense establishment has been rushing to meet the threat now faced by Hawaii, Guam, Al

Sean Wilentz: Lincoln, Obama and the myths liberals have fallen for

[Sean Wilentz is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and the author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (Norton).] ... The adage that understanding history requires understanding the historian also applies to literary critics trying to write history. Despite their differences in methods and conclusions, much of the new wave of books on Lincoln reflects a common mood among a portion of the liberal intelligentsia, one that cannot be ascribed simply to Lincol

Jack Cohen: Will the "peace process" end in 2 states?

[Visiting Professor at Hebrew University, Jerusalem.] There seems to be a common misperception that a "peace process" will end in "the two state solution," with a Palestinian State, that will then bring an end to the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs. This is pure pie in the sky, wishful thinking of the first order. For the Palestinians this will merely be a stage in their strategy to destroy the Jewish State. This is why PM Netanyahu is insisting that a

David J. Garrow: Gay Oppression ... It's Got a Brief History

David J. Garrow is Research Professor of History and Law at the University of Pittsburgh.Gay marriage is one of today's most hotly debated issues. In May, Massachusetts extended the right to marry to lesbians and gay men. On Thursday, a California court voided thousands of gay marriages performed in San Francisco. President Bush is calling for a constitutional amendment to limit marriage to male-female couples. So far such an amendment has no chance of winning congressional approval, but efforts to add anti-gay provisions to individual state constitutions are moving forward across the country.Why is gay marriage now a front-page issue, and where did it come from? Right-wing critics blame "activist judges," but the Massachusetts court that mandated marriage equality was directly inspired by last year's historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence vs. Texas, which struck down the nation's few remaining state sodomy statutes and declared that gay Americans cannot be treated as second-class citizens. Conservative Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a Republican from California and a devout Roman Catholic, wrote the opinion.

Richard Overy: We should be afraid of a British Berlusconi

[Richard Overy is author of The Morbid Age: Britain Between the Wars, (Allen Lane, £25).] Is there always a political fallout from the effects of severe economic crises such as Britain is now experiencing? The answer must surely be yes. In the 1930s the Depression broke the Macdonald Labour Party, divided the Liberals, ushered in an emergency National Government and led to the emergence of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. Normal party politics was restored onl

Mark Naison: America’s Crumbling Infrastructure and Forgotten Neigborhoods

[Mark Naison is Professor of African American Studies and History, Fordham University.] Early this week, I took Amtrak down to Washington to interview Frank Synder, Pensylvania State director of the AFL-CIO about labor’s campaign for Obama in Pennylvania in the 2008 Presidential election, which was one of the most important, grass roots efforts to confront the “race” issue head on in modern American history Normally when taking Amtrak, I sleep or read, but because of

Ira Chernus: Palestinian Violence Overstated, Jewish Violence Understated

[Ira Chernus is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and author of Monsters To Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin. He can be reached at chernus@colorado.edu.] The Israel Project hired pollster Stanley Greenberg to test American opinion on the Middle East c

Greg Grandin: The Collapse of America's Imperial Car Industry

[Greg Grandin is a professor of history at New York University and author of a number of books, most recently, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City (Metropolitan 2009). Check out a TomDispatch audio interview with Grandin about Henry Ford's strange adventure in the Amazon by clicking here

Daniel Pipes: A Call for American Boldness in Iran

In a striking coincidence, two very different expressions of Iranian dissent took place exactly simultaneously on two continents on Saturday, June 20. Between them, the Islamic Republic of Iran faces an unprecedented challenge.

Juan Cole: Washington and the Iran Protests ... Would they be Allowed in the US?

President Barack Obama had this to say about the Iran crisis on Tuesday:' First, I'd like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people

Richard Landes: Revisiting ‘Al Durah’ in Time of Iranian Media Control

[Richard Landes is a Professor of History at Boston University. He blogs at The Augean Stables, and maintains The Second Draft as an archival site for all matters pertaining to Pallywood and al Durah. The Second Draft has recently been reorganized and relaunched with new features.] The startling footage of Neda, the 27-year old woman shot to death in the streets of Tehran recently has reminded

Juan Cole: Guardianship Council Rules out Annulment of Election Results

[Mr. Cole is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. His website is http://www.juancole.com.] Iran's Guardianship Council, a sort of clerical senate on Tuesday ruled out any cancellation of the results of the recent presidential election, as called for by the opposition. The official outcome gave incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadineja

Steven A. Leibo: On indifference to global warming

[Dr. Steven A. Leibo directs the Sage Colleges Program in International & Globalization Studies.] Boy, how predictable! Just when we we’re feeling good about this emerging environment of greater toleration. Just when a leader like President Obama could emerge and appoint a judge like Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court a last century wack job like the killer who showed up at the Holocaust Museum reminds of us of how many of the hatreds of the last century, the century some have

Tony Judt: Israel's Fictions on the Ground

[Tony Judt is the director of the Remarque Institute at New York University and the author of “Postwar” and “Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century.”] I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary). In the early 1960s, I spent time on Kibbutz Hakuk, a small community founded by the Palmah unit of th

Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin: 'A New Deal for Veterans'

The original, Post-World War II GI Bill has been both idealized as evidence of America as land of opportunity, and criticized for primarily benefiting white men while perpetuating racial and gender discrimination. So write Glenn C. Altschuler, a professor of American studies and dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at Cornell University, and Stuart M. Blumin, professor emeritus of American history at Cornell, in their new book, The GI Bill: A New Deal For Veterans (Oxfo

Jonathan Zimmerman: Where have all the state capitol reporters gone?

[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. His most recent book,"Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory," was published this month.] Hey, have you heard the latest joke? It's called the New York Legislature. Two Democrats recently defected to the Republicans, allowing the GOP to take over the Senate; someone locked the door of the Senate chamber, until Republicans mysteriously located the key; then one of the two defector