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Lest we forget …
One-hundred years ago on April 9, the Battle of Arras commenced. The week-long offensive against Germany cost the Allied Forces 159,000 casualties. Of those, a staggering 46,000 were Scottish. The...
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The Kurds’ enduring struggle for self-determination
The Kurds are the largest ethnic community in the world without a state of their own. Around 40 million Kurds are scattered around the Middle East, mainly in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Most reside...
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Do spectacular earnings justify spectacular US stock prices?
The US stock market, as measured by the monthly real (inflation-adjusted) S&P Composite Index, or S&P 500, has increased 3.3-fold since its bottom in March 2009. This makes the US stock market...
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The return to 19th century rivalry
Arguably, the greatest benefit of the US led international order has been the reduction and near elimination of secret covenants between nation-states, which dominated international politics for...
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India’s largest village and ‘home of soldiers’ needs PM’s help
About 90 kilometers drive from Varanasi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency in north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh – takes you to the country’s largest village. Gahmar is home for 4,500...
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Why America can’t win wars
In Washington, the US military is routinely feted as the best equipped, the best trained, the most lethal, indeed, the greatest force ever fielded. However, its dismal war record since 1945 suggests...
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Problems of homogenization, ethnic cleansing
The isolationist and arbitrary Westphalian state system characterized by the twin principles of absolute sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs has been replaced by an active and...
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Trump’s effect on US foreign policy
US President Donald Trump’s behavior at the recent Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz was criticized as careless and disruptive by many observers. Others argued that the press and pundits pay too much...
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‘1917’ is the worst war movie ever
Two British soldiers carry a message of mortal importance across No Man’s Land during the Battle of Passchendaele in April 1917. Thanks to director Sam Mendes’ ham-handed attempts at cinematic...
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Coronavirus solidifies US-China decoupling
In November 2019, Henry Kissinger was in Beijing for the Bloomberg Next Economy Forum, warning that the US and China are in the “foothills of a Cold War”, saying that conflict could be worse than...
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Ingredients in place for new great power war
The Covid-19 pandemic has wrought a terrible price from humanity and will continue to do so in the months ahead. Meanwhile, it exacerbates an already dangerous international situation. Canadian...
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Public relations or propaganda, war gave it life
This article is excerpted from John Maxwell Hamilton’s new book, Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda (LSU Press, $49.95; electronic version available). The...
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Turkey’s genocide denial fails, but don’t expect change
On April 24, the once-unthinkable happened. Marking the 106th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, US President Joe Biden issued a statement that explicitly used the word “genocide” twice. The...
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Reliving the nightmare of 1914
World War I had no good guys and no winners. France rightly sought the return of the provinces Germany had annexed in 1870. Russia rightly feared that German influence would sever its industrial...
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Europe sleepwalking into another world war
More than 100 years after World War I, Europe’s leaders are sleepwalking toward a new all-out war. In 1914, the European governments believed that the war would last three weeks; it lasted four years...
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Kiwis punch above their weight again – for Ukraine
New Zealand has a reputation for “punching above its weight” – the exact words used by former United States assistant secretary of defense Richard Armitage in the mid-1980s when then prime minister...
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Putin’s mobilization draws on wrong war history
Vladimir Putin’s mobilization of 300,000 additional Russian soldiers to fight in Ukraine has gotten off to a rocky start. Nominally aimed at calling up reserve forces with prior combat experience,...
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Many Turks await unveiling of 1923 ‘secret clauses’
Commonly regarded as the “birth certificate” of modern Turkey, the 1923 treaty of Lausanne was the last of the peace settlements signed at the end of the first world war. This year’s centenary has...
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WWI comparisons underestimate Russia’s strengths
The current conflict in Ukraine frequently elicits parallels with the first world war. It’s a comparison being made by politicians, journalists, analysts and military personnel. Coverage over the past...
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Zelensky is at war – with his generals
Volodymir Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, is at war – with his generals. He has admonished the head of the Ukrainian armed services, Valery Zaluzhny, who last week told The Economist that “just like in...
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