Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Timothy Snyder, Substack, posted June 5
A complex description of conflicts within Russian military forces and the impact of cross-border raids inside Russia by Russian fighters allied with Ukraine.”The war in Ukraine has restarted Russian politics: not necessarily in ways that are pleasant to watch, but following a dynamic that will be difficult to stop.” The author teaches East European history at Yale University.
By Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch.com, posted June 1
Questions the rationale and practicality of what the author says is the US strategy of using the Ukraine War to weaken Russia. “American enthusiasm for punishing Russia might actually have made strategic sense if the zero-sum logic of the Cold War still pertained,” but not now. The author is a retired US Army lieutenant colonel and a professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University.
By Carolyn Eisenberg, antiwar.com, posted May 30
Summarizes Henry Kissinger's role in prolonging the Vietnam War during Richard Nixon's first presidential term. The author teaches history at Hofstra University and is the author of Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia (Oxford U. Press, 2023).
By Dan Dinello, Informed Comment blog, posted May 30
Argues that on issue after issue, from immigration to attacks on academic freedom,Viktor Orban's government has pioneered repressive policies that are being adopted by Republicans in the US. It is no coincidence that the Conservative Political Action Committee has held two-day conventions in Hungary for two years running. “A vision of the Republican future, Victor Orbán is Trump or DeSantis with 13 years in command.”
By Donald Beaulieu, Washington Post, posted May 29
Describes a May 1, 1865 commemoration in Charleston, South Carolina honoring Union war dead, which preceded other events that have been linked to the origins of Memorial Day, and notes the longtime southern erasure of that event in favor of pro-Confederate interpretations of the Civil War era.
By the National Security Archive, posted May 25
Using recently declassified documents, this posting sheds light on an extraordinary range of Kissinger's activities as National Security Adviser and then Secretary of State, including secret bombing in Southeast Asia, wiretapping of other US officials, the 1973 Chile coup, and the “dirty war” in Argentina.
By the AAUP, posted May 24
Although only a preliminary report, this 18-page document goes into fine detail about the machinations of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to seize control of higher education in his state.”This onslaught, if sustained, threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with the direst implications for the entire country.”
By Nick Turse, The Intercept, posted May 23
Based on “hundreds of hours of research at the U.S. National Archives” and on interviews with survivors in Cambodian villages along the Vietnamese border.”These attacks were far more intimate and perhaps even more horrific than the violence already attributed to Kissinger’s policies.” The author has written extensively on war crimes during the Vietnam War and on current US military activity in Africa.
By Lawrence Wittner, History News Network, posted May 21
Argues that despite the partial successes of popular resistance to nuclear weaponry from the 1980s to recent years, nuclear warfare can only be prevented by a greatly strengthened UN or another such body. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
By Steven Greenhouse, The Guardian, posted May 13
“As the summer holidays approach, Florida teachers are feeling anxious, confused and beaten down by new laws, championed by DeSantis, that limit how issues of race can be taught, what teachers can say about sex, especially about homosexuality, and what books are permitted in schools.” The author is a journalist who covered labor for three decades at the New York Times.
“Church and State: How the Murder of a CIA Officer Was Used to Silence the Agency's Greatest Critic”
By James Risen and Thomas Risen, The Intercept, posted May 9
On the campaign of the Gerald Ford White House and the CIA to discredit the Senate Committee, headed by Idaho Democrat Frank Church, that during 1975 had uncovered numerous CIA abuses. Defenders of the agency falsely claimed that the unrelated murder of a CIA station chief in Greece had come about because the Church Committee had disclosed his identity.
Thanks to Roger Peace and an anonymous reader for flagging articles included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.