Five globes shaped like human faces, connected by threads.

It’s Time to Rethink the Idea of the “Indigenous”

Many groups who identify as Indigenous don’t claim to be first peoples; many who came first don’t claim to be Indigenous. Can the idea escape its colonial past?
German observation balloon launched near the Somme, September 1916.
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Why a Spy Balloon Inspires Such Fear and Fascination

When it comes to protecting our personal privacy, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Robet Kagan resting his head in his hands in a contemplative position, with a dark red background

Robert Kagan and Interventionism’s Big Reboot

He fell from favor after the disaster of the Iraq War. But he was always biding his time.
A balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina on Feb. 4, shortly before it was shot down.
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Panic Over Spy Balloon Echoes Misguided Alarm Over Sputnik

In this case, freaking out makes even less sense because spy balloons are historically a sign of weakness.
Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5.

Spy Balloons Evoke Bad Cold War Memories for China

Covert U.S. intrusions into Chinese airspace were common for decades.
President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the Group of 20 summit.
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Diplomacy Defused Cold War Crises. It Can Help Again Today.

The type of quiet, personal, informed diplomacy advocated by George Kennan can reduce tensions with China and Russia.
Photos of UFO and the Chinese Spy Balloon.

Why Americans Are So Unsettled by the Chinese Spy Balloon

China’s balloon, whatever its purpose, became a physical and observable reminder of the often-invisible work nations do to keep tabs on one another.
The United States flag flying above that of Guam.

Trapped by Empire

The government of Guam has appointed a Commission on Decolonization, but U.S. control means that all of the island’s options have substantial downsides.
A group of school boys displaced by World War II bombardments pose with CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) packages from the United States in Haren, Belgium in 1947.

How Truman Sold Americans on Going Hungry

In 1947, the United States sacrificed for the sake of a starving Europe.
A Japanese bomb-carrying paper balloon in North America in 1945.

When Japanese Balloons Threatened American Skies During World War II

Japan sent nearly 10,000 bomb-bearing balloons toward the U.S. during World War II. One killed six people.
Painting of the US army entering the city of Guadalupe Hildaglo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Annotated

Signed February 2, 1848, the treaty compelled Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory, bringing more than 525,000 square miles under US sovereignty.
Image from book cover of "Petroleum and Progress in Iran."

There Will Be War

U.S.-Iranian relations, the interrelationship between Iranian development and the global oil market, and the future of economic warfare.
The Iraq flag waving in the wind.

Confronting the Iraq War

Melvyn Leffler’s book on the roots of the Iraq invasion demonstrates the pitfalls of excessive trust in one’s sources, especially when they're top policymakers.
Yellow house where George Washington stayed while in Barbados.

George Washington in Barbados?

How the Caribbean colony contributed to America's fight for independence.
An image of George Kennan with some of his letters superimposed over his face.

Kennan’s Warning on Ukraine

Ambition, insecurity, and the perils of independence.
Indigenous people brought to Spain by Hernán Cortés play the game patolli.

The Indigenous Americans Who Visited Europe

A new book reverses the narrative of the Age of Discovery, which has long evoked the ambitions of Europeans looking to the Americas rather than vice versa.
Migrants discuss their journey in 2018, using a map posted inside a sports complex in Mexico City.
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Biden’s Announced Asylum Transit Ban Undermines Access to Life-Saving Protection

Similar bars have been marshaled against Central Americans since the late 1980s — severely undermining access to asylum.
Premiere of The Gaucho at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, November 4, 1927.

The Gaucho Western

When Hollywood went down Argentine way.
Censored text and George W. Bush with a black bar covering his eyes. Art by Alex Cochran.

What Really Took America to War in Iraq

A fatal combination of fear, power, and hubris.
A broken window at the Planalto Palace following attacks on government buildings by supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasília.
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The Shared Religious Roots of Twin Insurrections in the U.S. and Brazil

Americans helped spread a right-wing version of evangelical Christianity in Brazil. Now it has played a role in an insurrection.
Bill Clinton presenting the V-chip, 1996.

Cold Controls

“National security” and the history of US export controls.
Lili’uokalani, Queen of Hawaii, 1917.

The 1893 Hawaiian Coup and the Realities of American Expansion

To most 21st century Americans, Hawaii is a tropical paradise. But how that paradise became part of the United States is a long, complex, and often dark story.
George Kennan.

George Kennan’s False Moves

The great grand strategist of the Cold War believed he failed in his most important task.
Seashore in the Fog, detail, Caspar David Freiderich, c. 1807.

By Stratagem and Hard Fighting

The historical record reveals the real circumstances that led to the improbable capture of eleven British ships.
Two Choctaw men

Choctaw Confederates

Some Native Americans chose to fight for the Southern cause.
Protestors on the streets during the Algerian War.

The Counterinsurgent Imagination

A new book examines military manuals as a genre to understand what armed counter-revolutionaries think of as the right way to do what they do.
Painting depicting the U.S. Army and American Indians signing the Treaty of Greenville, 1785.

How the (First) West Was Won: Federalist Treaties that Reshaped the Frontier

Treaties with Britain, the Confederated tribes, and Spain revealed that America was still dependent on the greater geopolitics of the Atlantic World.
A painting of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

The Treaty of Ghent: Annotated

The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, an oft overlooked conflict that continues to shape the politics and culture(s) of North America.
Collage of George Kennan and the Pentagon.

The Ghosts of Kennan

Lessons from the start of the Cold War.
U.S. soldiers providing sniper coverage for a meeting in Kandahar, January 2013

The High Cost of American Heavy-Handedness 

Great-power competition demands persuasion, not coercion.