Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“Top 3 Things Biden Could Do Instead of Intensively Bombing Iraq and Syria”
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, posted February 3
A short piece arguing the futility of US air strikes in Iraq and Syria and advocating the withdrawal of US troops from both countries and a cessation to arming Israel’s destruction of Gaza. The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.
A panel consisting of Nadim Bawalsa, Leena Dallasheh, Abigail Jacobson, Derek Penslar, Itamar Rabinovitch, and Salim Tamari, moderated by Emily Bazelon, New York Times, posted February 1
Transcript of an in-depth historical discussion. “We asked a panel of historians — three Palestinians, two Israelis and a Canadian American — to talk about the decisive moments leading up to the founding of Israel and the displacement of Palestinians and whether a different outcome could have been possible.” With historical photographs.
“The Time Ronald Reagan Kept the US out of War in the Middle East”
By Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe, posted January 31
“This month marks the 40th anniversary of a potentially catastrophic American intervention that didn’t happen. In 1984 President Ronald Reagan decided not to take the United States into war in Lebanon despite horrific provocation. Biden could learn a lesson from Reagan’s prudent restraint.” The author is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Affairs at Brown University.
“The U.S. Is Repeating Cold War Mistakes with Iran”
By Paul R. Pillar, The National Interest, posted January 30
“The notion of Iran as a prime mover—the initiator of regional evil—is just as misleading as it was with the USSR during the Cold War.” The author is a 28-year veteran of the CIA (1977-2005) who is a nonresident senior fellow of Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies.
“Israel, the United States, and the Rhetoric of the War on Terror”
By Maha Hilal, TomDispatch, posted January 25
“[I]n responding to Hamas’s attacks, Israel’s discursive strategy was both to capitalize on and tether itself to the meanings the U.S. had popularized and made pervasive about the 9/11 attacks.” The author is also the author of Innocent until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and Muslim Experience Since 9/11 (Broadleaf Books, 2022).
“Overcoming the Obstacles to UN Maintenance of International Peace and Security”
By Lawrence S. Wittner, Foreign Policy in Focus, posted January 25
On the history of the veto power in the UN Security Council and past and current attempts to end or circumvent it. “Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and the more recent Israeli-Palestinian war in Gaza provide the latest examples of the world organization’s frequent paralysis in the face of violent international conflict.”The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
By Rick Perlstein, The American Prospect, posted January 24
Draws on the work of John Ganz, a scholar of European fascism in the 1930s, to show the danger posed by Donald Trump and his cult, posed to resist any election result that goes against him. The author is a historian of US politics whose most recent book is Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976-1980 (Simon & Schuster, 2020).
“Israel’s Netanyahu: An Oliver Cromwell for Our Times”
By Hugh J. Curran, Informed Comment, posted January 20
“Although they are several centuries apart, what is taking place in Palestine resembles that which took place in Ireland in the 17th century.” Sketches the brutal campaign of 1649-52, initiated by Oliver Cromwell to crush resistance to English rule in Ireland. The author teaches in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at the University of Maine.
By Van Gosse, The Nation, posted January 18
“Everything that Israel is doing to the people of Gaza—especially killing civilians through intensive aerial bombardment—was prefigured during the American “ground war” in Vietnam.” The author teaches U.S. history at Franklin and Marshall College and is co-chair of the H-PAD Steering Committee.
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum, The Guardian, posted January 13
“An unlikely charge of intent to commit treason landed Meir Baruchin, a grey-haired, softly spoken history and civics teacher, in the solitary confinement wing of Jerusalem’s notorious “Russian Compound” prison in early November.”
“The Road to Nowhere or the Path to Peace?”
By Omer Bartov, Shanghai Literary Review, posted January 8
An overview of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, holding out the hope of an eventual compromise leading to coexistence. The author is an Israeli-born historian who teaches Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University.
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles that are included in the above list, and to Roger Peace for insightful comments on articles being considered. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.