In early 2000, the custody case surrounding Cuban child Elian Gonzalez dominated the American news cycle. Combining U.S.-Cuba immigration policies,…
Foundering Phoenix: Solidarity’s Turbulent Rise to Power
The path of Solidarity from dissident group to governance in the 1980s was far from smooth. Founded on September 17,…
Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child: A Caning in Singapore
During the spring of 1994, Americans were gripped by an incident in Singapore which unexpectedly became a cause celebre: the…
Haiti, The Bearer of Scars
Haiti is a land of great beauty and of great suffering. The Haitian proverb, bay kou bliye, pote mak sonje…
Freeing American Hostages in the First Gulf War
Shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein and his Republican Guard forces took hundreds of Americans…
Srebrenica and the Horrors of the Balkan War
The break-up of Yugoslavia caused some of the most heinous human rights violations and ethnic mass killings seen in the…
Like Father, Like Son — Tyranny in Syria, A Massacre in Hama
As the civil war in Syria drags on with no end in sight, the humanitarian toll of the conflict becomes…
The Art of China Watching During the Great Leap Forward
From 1958 to 1961, following the anti-rightest crackdown of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao Zedong and the Communist Party launched…
The Long Arm of History — Kurt Waldheim Banned for his Nazi Past
On June 8th, 1986, Kurt Waldheim was elected President of Austria. The former Secretary General of the United Nations and…
The Power of a Talking Point: The Work of Ambassador Thomas Miller in Morocco
All too often in the State Department, people can lose hope that their efforts matter and come to believe that…