History Lesson

The End of the Innocents

How America's longtime man in Southeast Asia, Jim Thompson, fought to stop the CIA's progression from a small spy ring to a large paramilitary agency -- and was never seen again.

BY JOSHUA KURLANTZICK | NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Waiting for Bushehr

The long wait for Iran's first nuclear power plant is finally over. It's now online, but is it ready?

BY ALI VAEZ | SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

The Road to Tahrir

The roots of Egyptians' rage can be traced back to bad economic advice from the IMF -- and the crony capitalism it left behind.

BY TY MCCORMICK | AUGUST 18, 2011

Life After Debt

In this month's market upheavals in the United States and Europe, we are witnessing the end of a seven-decade economic experiment. But does anyone have any clue what comes next?

BY JAMES MACDONALD | AUGUST 18, 2011

Assassin Nation

After more than three decades of targeted killings, is there anyone left alive who can actually run Afghanistan?

BY EDWARD GIRARDET | JULY 18, 2011

Fading Legacy

Yelena Bonner and Andrei Sakharov were giants. Why do so few Russians remember them?

BY DAVID E. HOFFMAN | JUNE 20, 2011

Driven

The campaign to allow Saudi women behind the wheel has been a generation in the making.

BY EBTIHAL MUBARAK | JUNE 17, 2011

Osama's Oil Obsession

Al Qaeda wants to hit Americans where it hurts: in their gas tanks.

BY DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS | MAY 23, 2011

Is Ahmadinejad Islamic Enough for Iran?

Why the Iranian president's latest fight with the supreme leader could be his last.

BY ABBAS MILANI | APRIL 29, 2011

Syriana

After Bashar al-Assad, the deluge.

BY ROBERT D. KAPLAN | APRIL 21, 2011

America Has Beaten Qaddafi Before

I know, because I helped supply the weapons.

BY CHARLES DUELFER | MARCH 11, 2011

Why We Can't Rule Out an Egyptian Reign of Terror

A historian's look at revolution and its discontents.

BY DAVID A. BELL | FEBRUARY 7, 2011

What Would Marx Say about Cairo?

History repeats itself -- revolutions even more so.

BY DAVID ARMITAGE | FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Lie of the Tiger

How the United States really tamed the Japanese economy -- and why China's a much meaner cat.

BY CLYDE V. PRESTOWITZ | NOVEMBER 2010

In Praise of Laziness

An investigation into 14th-century heresy explains why the French refuse to get off their derrières.

BY ROBERT ZARETSKY | SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

The Truth Is Out There (In a Library)

Forget WikiLeaks or Google. The state secrets that matter are waiting to be found in dusty file cabinets.

BY DAVID E. HOFFMAN | SEPT. / OCT. 2010

Wally's World

Thirty-five years ago this week, Wallace Broecker predicted decades of dangerous climate change caused by humans. Unfortunately, he was all too prescient.

BY BRAD JOHNSON | AUGUST 3, 2010

Why the Irish Support Palestine

Once upon a time, Ireland was a huge supporter of Jewish aspirations in the Promised Land. What happened?

BY RORY MILLER | JUNE 23, 2010

The People's Capsule

How a clunky old Soviet rocket outlasted the space shuttle.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | JULY/AUGUST 2010

Zoopolitics

How caged animals became a tool of statecraft.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | MAY 26, 2010

Four Minutes to Armageddon

Richard Nixon, Barack Obama, and the nuclear alert.

BY DAVID E. HOFFMAN | APRIL 2, 2010

The Little Nukes That Got Away

What Obama's new weapons treaty left out.

BY DAVID E. HOFFMAN | APRIL 1, 2010

The Good Ayatollah

Why my former cellmate's legacy will live on.

BY ABBAS MILANI | MARCH/APRIL 2010

No Heads Are Better Than Two

Russia's double-headed eagle is not just a national emblem. It's a symbol of the national schizophrenia.

BY NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

Take Me Back to Constantinople

How Byzantium, not Rome, can help preserve Pax Americana.

BY EDWARD LUTTWAK | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

A Diplomatic Mystery

Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley delves into a misunderstanding over NATO expansion that brought decades of grief.

BY BILL BRADLEY | SEPT. / OCT. 2009

Barack von Metternich

Obama's foreign policy makes him the surprising heir to a certain Austrian prince.

BY GUSTAVO DE LAS CASAS | JULY/AUG 2009