Folgen
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The right-wing Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) is now the second-most popular political party in Germany after a strong showing in national elections. The party is unapologetically pro-German, vehemently opposing the presence of Muslim immigrants and their country's membership in the European Union. AfD denies it is a neo-Nazi party, a taboo in a nation once ruled by Adolf Hitler. In this episode, historian Roger Griffin, a leading expert on fascism and extremist political ideologies, delves into the AfD's history and its place in an increasingly far-right European political climate.
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His critics say President Trump is selling out Ukraine just as Franklin Delano Roosevelt supposedly sold out Poland at the 1945 Yalta Conference. Some historians have compared Trump's "appeasement" of Putin to Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler in 1938. Or, as Democrats contend, Donald Trump is betraying the Cold War legacy of Ronald Reagan. What if none of these historical episodes can be applied to today’s crisis, as Ukraine defends itself against a nuclear-armed Russia? In this episode, historian Sergey Radchenko of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies compares and contrasts the past and present.
Recommended reading:
To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power by Sergey Radchenko
The Talks That Could Have Ended the War in Ukraine by Samuel Charap and Sergey Radchenko (article in Foreign Affairs)
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Fehlende Folgen?
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In 2005 Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, forcing out thousands of Jewish settlers. Peace did not follow in their wake. Rather than a resolution to Palestinian statelessness, Israelis and Arabs received 18 years of violence, defined by the pattern known as "mowing the grass" and leading to the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct 7, 2023. Why did Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan fail? Was it designed to freeze the peace process reignited three years earlier by President George W. Bush? In this episode, historian Ahron Bregman, an IDF veteran, delves into the origins of the current war.
Further reading:
Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947 by Ahron Bregman
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This is the final episode in a 3-part series marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
The origins of Ukrainian nationalism; the famine caused by Stalin’s forced collectivization of agriculture; the millions more who died during the Nazi occupation during the Second World War -- Ukraine witnessed some of the darkest chapters of the Holocaust -- and the following decades of Soviet domination until the USSR vanished in 1991 and Ukraine declared its independence: Ukraine's history is often lost or overlooked when talking about the origins of today’s war in Eastern Europe. It's as if Ukraine, the country being invaded, is only a supporting character in the great drama playing out between the United States and Russia. In this episode, The Wall Street Journal's chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov sheds light on Ukraine's past through the lens of his new novel No Country For Love, which is loosely modeled on the life of Trofimov's grandmother, a Ukrainian Jew who survived the horrors of the 20th century.
Recommended reading:
No Country For Love by Yaroslav Trofimov
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This is the second episode in a 3-part series marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Thirty-five years ago, a better world seemed possible. The Cold War ended, Soviet Communism collapsed, and Russia seemed on its way to free markets and democracy. It did not work out. Today, Vladimir Putin’s Russia is an authoritarian police state at war with its neighbors. Russia, as a result of missteps on either side of Europe's new dividing line, is left out of the "Western club" it once tried and failed to join. It may be hard to recall now, but after the Cold War, throughout the 1990s, and even into the first years of Putin’s rule, the U.S. and Russia tried to link arms to create some kind of new European security order based on trust and cooperation. In this episode, historian Vladislav Zubok unpacks the complexities of Russia's recent past and its fraught relationship with its neighbors.
Recommended reading:
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav Zubok
Chronology of U.S.-Russia Summits by U.S. State Department
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This is the first episode in a 3-part series marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
The Trump administration's overtures to the Kremlin will spur negotiations to end Europe's largest war since 1945. The early signs do not bode well for Ukraine's interests. President Trump seems to believe Ukraine started the war and that its president Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator. American leaders may be confused, but the guests in this episode understand the deep historical origins of today's conflict. Historians Michael Kimmage and Serhii Plokhy delve into the continuum of Russian imperialism from the days of the tsars to the USSR to the Putin autocracy. They also consider the role of contingency and the agency of Ukrainians, who since 1991 have sought to escape Moscow's shadow.
Recommended reading:
Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability by Michael Kimmage
The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History by Serhii Plokhy
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The minds of America's 18th-century founders concentrated on what was necessary to sustain a new republic after breaking with monarchy. The republic required civic virtue and disinterestedness on the part of its public officials. Republican virtue was an elitist idea that did not trust ordinary people with the reins of power, but it still has something to teach us. The new Trump administration is testing the boundaries of the law and challenging the separation of powers. In this episode, the eminent historian Joseph Ellis explains why the concept of virtue was integral to the American founding and whether the republic can survive today when so many citizens turn a blind eye to official corruption while subscribing to outrageous conspiracy theories.
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With President Donald Trump bent on initiating a trade war by hiking tariffs on imports from major trading partners such as China, Mexico, and Canada, an infamous piece of legislation passed in 1930 is piquing Americans' curiosity. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act imposed the highest duties in U.S. history on roughly one-fourth of all imports. It contributed to a steep falloff in global trade and exacerbated the Great Depression. Just when world commerce needed stimulation, many countries erected tariff barriers, often in retaliation for Smoot-Hawley. In this episode, economic historian Phillip Magness of the Independent Institute delves into the reasons why U.S. leaders once believed high tariffs were beneficial and how the executive branch obtained broad power to manipulate tariffs in the decades since.
Further reading:
FDR's Speech To Congress on Foreign Trade (1934)
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President Donald Trump is threatening to cut off aid to Jordan and Egypt if they do not submit to his outrageous demand to take in the Palestinians he hopes to forcibly displace from Gaza. Forced population transfers and denying people the right to return to their land are violations of international law. The president's idea of emptying Gaza of Palestinians, so the U.S. can take over the Gaza Strip and redevelop it, ignores important history. Palestinians who were once driven into Jordan after 1967 turned that country into a base to attack Israel, leading to a civil war in Amman in 1970. Trump is also repeating the mistake of the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic breakthrough of his first term. In this episode, scholar Khaled Elgindy breaks down Trump's Gaza proposal and delves into the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Further reading:
The Fallacy of the Abraham Accords by Khaled Elgindy in Foreign Affairs.
Blindspot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump by Khaled Elgindy
Hamas' Victory, Gaza's Defeat by Ihab Hassan in Liberties
Jordan on the Edge: Pressures From the War in Gaza by Annelle Sheline (Quincy Institute)
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In his inaugural address in Jan. 1989, President George Bush said, "For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over." Indeed, with the Cold War winding down, it seemed the world was entering a new era. Within a generation, the number of democratic states would surpass the number of authoritarian regimes for the first time. However, the freedom spring did not last very long, and today democracy is in retreat. What happened? No statesman today would declare dictatorship a thing of the past. In this episode, historian Jeffrey Engel takes us back to the optimism of '89 and discusses the challenges that were immediately ahead of the U.S. when Bush heralded the end of the totalitarian era.
Further reading:
When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War by Jeffrey Engel
How Do Dictatorships Survive in the 21st Century? by the Carnegie Corporation
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Both major political parties claim to be the true champions of the working class at a time when excessive concentrations of wealth and power are eroding the foundations of American democracy. Unions are not a reality for most workers, especially in the private sector where the unionization rate is about 6 percent. So it is no surprise that worker solidarity -- a collective sense that working-class people have a shared interest in fighting for a greater share of the wealth and more control over their working lives -- is at a low point. In this episode, Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin traces the rise and fall of worker solidarity in America.
Further reading:
What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party by Michael Kazin
Structure and Solidarity by Leo Casey in Dissent (article)
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President Trump wants to end birthright citizenship as part of his multifront campaign to close American society to foreigners. A federal judge has temporarily blocked his executive order attempting to abolish part of the Constitution -- Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case may ultimately reach the Supreme Court, more than 150 years after the states ratified the transformative amendment that "transcended race and region, it challenged legal discrimination throughout the nation, and changed and broadened the meaning of freedom for all Americans," in the words of eminent historian Eric Foner. In this episode, Foner delves into the origins of this enduring American conflict over rights and citizenship.
Recommended reading:
Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 by Eric Foner (book)
A Look Back at the Wong Kim Ark Decision by Scott Bomboy of the National Constitution Center (article)
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Israel's destruction of Gaza has caused a rift among Holocaust historians and genocide scholars. They're at odds with one another over what to call it. Is it genocide? Another category of war crime? Or are Israel's actions justified under international law? In this episode, historian Dirk Moses, an expert on genocide studies and international relations, delves into the history of the genocide concept and why over the past 80 years it's been unhelpful in defining, preventing, or punishing the destruction of nations.
Further reading:
dirkmoses.com for relevant articles and reviews
The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression by Dirk Moses (book)
The Gaza Genocide in Five Crises By Ernesto Verdeja (article)
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Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) was hailed as an exemplary leader on human rights whose presidency was ruined by crises outside his control, none worse than the hostage crisis in Iran. This favorable view elides critical events that took place during the years before the U.S. embassy was seized in Tehran in Nov. 1979. President Carter acted like the previous presidents he had criticized. He embraced the brutal Shah of Iran, sold him weapons, and stuck with him to the very end. Then the Carter administration avoided making contact with Iran's new revolutionary, Islamist leaders headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini. What if Carter had made different moves? Would U.S.-Iran relations be different today? In this episode, historian and Eurasia Group senior analyst Gregory Brew delves into the Cold War origins of the U.S.-Iran relationship and why Jimmy Carter made a human rights exception for the Shah.
Further reading:
The Struggle For Iran: Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951 to 1954 by Gregory Brew and David S. Painter
America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present by John Ghazvinian
Further listening:
Operation Ajax (podcast featuring interview w/ Gregory Brew)
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Democrat Joseph R. Biden's very long political career is now over. The man first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 reached the pinnacle of power at 78 years old when he defeated Republican Donald Trump in 2020. Biden made saving democracy against the Trump threat a leitmotif of his administration. Yet, Biden's missteps -- none worse than his decision to seek a second term -- were largely responsible for Trump's return to power. What will endure from Biden's vision? From his legislative accomplishments or foreign policy decision-making? In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri begins to assess the former president's single term in the White House.
Further reading:
Biden Attacked the Oligarchs -- Too Little, Too Late by Jeremi Suri, Democracy of Hope on Substack
Great Power Politics (Bidenomics) by Adam Tooze, London Review
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On the eve of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, many Americans are struggling to explain how we got here again. Are past narratives failing to help us understand the present? The history of conservatism or illiberalism may provide some answers for this new age of American politics, this post-post-Cold War period that is upending what we assumed about the march of progress, democracy, and free markets. In this episode, political scientist Damon Linker contends the old pieties no longer apply, but it's difficult to discern a new explanation.
Further reading:
The Movements of History by Damon Linker, Notes From the Middleground, on Substack
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President-elect Donald Trump says China has taken over the Panama Canal. In a news conference, Trump said U.S. military force may be necessary to seize the canal, which would abrogate the 1978 treaty between the U.S. and Panama ceding its control to that Central American country. In this episode, historian Jonathan Brown traces Panama's history from 1903, the year of its independence, through the rule of dictator Omar Torrijos, who persuaded the United States to give up control of the world’s busiest waterway. The canal is an important symbol of Panama's sovereignty, and China, contrary to Trump's claims, does not control it.
Further reading:
The Weak and the Powerful: Omar Torrijos, Panama, and the Non-Aligned World by Jonathan Brown
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President-elect Donald Trump, who has said illegal immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," vows his administration will implement the largest deportation program in U.S. history. Mass deportations are part of the American story; Mexicans were targeted in "repatriation raids" in the 1930s, and in 1954 the Eisenhower administration undertook "Operation Wetback," a racist slur for people who crossed the southern border by swimming. What were the consequences of these past deportations? Is it possible to deport all the undocumented people in the United States? In this episode, Catholic University historian Julia Young delves into the history of nativism in our nation of immigrants.
Further reading:
Recent Immigration Surge Has Been Largest in U.S. History (New York Times)
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A new nuclear arms race is underway. Almost all the landmark treaties of the Cold War and post-Cold War period restricting the U.S. and Russian arsenals are no longer in effect, having been abrogated or abandoned. China is arming. Other states may be interested in joining the nuclear club, despite the strictures of the non-proliferation treaty of 1968. In this episode, nuclear weapons expert Joe Cirincione, who writes Strategy & History on Substack, discusses the "arms control extinction" and the potential consequences of President-elect Trump's proposals, as stated in Project 2025, to spend trillions in building up America's arsenal.
Further reading:
The Arms Control Extinction by Joseph Cirincione, Strategy & History on Substack
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On Dec. 29, 2024, James Earl Carter died at 100. From 1977 to 1981, he was the 39th president of the United States. Carter's passing reignited a debate over the successes and failures of his one term in the White House. He is remembered for stagflation, gas lines, and the "crisis of confidence." His presidency was upended by economic problems at home and major crises abroad, none greater than the Iran hostage ordeal that vexed his administration for more than 400 days. Yet Carter also left a positive legacy in human rights and racial equality. In this episode, historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel provide commentary as we look back on Jimmy Carter's eventful but largely unsuccessful presidency. Credit also to historians Sean Wilentz, John Ghazvinian, and Andrew Bacevich, whose scholarship was cited in this episode.
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