Archive for " History"
As anyone who has opened a newspaper or watched the news over the past few years knows, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been pursuing nuclear capability. Iran’s government insists its only goal is to develop nuclear power plants that would not threaten anyone. The United Nations, though, is concerned Iran might instead covet nuclear [...]
How did the members of President George W. Bush’s foreign policy team rise to power? What events shaped their policy viewpoints and political worldviews? James Mann, in The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet, seeks to answer those questions. He describes the careers of the six top “Vulcans”—officials who worked in [...]
Americans think of themselves as the freest people on Earth. After all, they say, they have rule by majority, equality amongst themselves, freedom to do whatever they want, and most importantly, freedom to think whatever they want. The First Amendment to their United States Constitution proclaims the government may not infringe upon freedom [...]
“Killing to Acquire and Secure Power, for Dummies” would be an apt subtitle for Niccolo Machiavelli’s book The Prince. Within this work, Machiavelli advocates the unrestrained pursuit of power as its own end, without allowing such paltry things as ethics to interfere. If massacring a slew of people will help one get power, one should [...]
“I profess myself a Mazda-worshipper, a Zoroastrian, having vowed it and professed it. I pledge myself to the well-thought thought, I pledge myself to the well-spoken word, [and] I pledge myself to the well-done action.”1
This oath to believe in God and act according to his principles comes from Zoroastrian scripture, a representative of the millennia-old [...]
Known as the “Great Communicator,” United States President Ronald Reagan used plain speaking and affecting homilies to connect with his audiences, making them more willing to embrace his point of view. Reagan’s success as a persuasive orator ingratiated him with his allies, who appreciated his ability to win support for their cause, and infuriated his [...]
After the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics sputtered and died, thus ending the Cold War, the bipolar system of world affairs evaporated, leaving a planet unsure of what factors would shape events to come. Harvard University Professor Samuel P. Huntington tries to dispel that uncertainty with his book Clash of Civilizations and Remaking World Order, [...]
