For centuries, it was the national symbol of a nation. For decades, it was kept in Fort Knox for safekeeping.…
“Like Star Wars and Fiddler on the Roof” — Life with the Sinai Field Mission
The relative peace between Israel and Egypt, particularly on the Sinai, has been one of the few bright spots in…
The Fight in Vietnam Arrives at the White House
In the late 1960’s, the United States had become polarized by the Vietnam War, as even many defenders were beginning…
Life in Ceausescu’s Romania
Romania in the 1970s was a study in contrasts. Traditionally a rich agricultural breadbasket, its backward economy could not provide…
Escape from the Nazis via the Kindertransport
Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, November 9-10, 1938 — SA forces vandalize Jewish-owned stores and synagogues. Five days later, a…
The Middle East Cauldron
Edward “Skip” Gnehm served as Ambassador to Kuwait shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, from 1991 to 1994, and…
Dealing with a Reunified Germany
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the long-awaited reunification between East and West Germany began. A…
Ambassador Skip Gnehm on the Middle East
The Middle East has been a complicated, if not violent, region for millennia, which has only been exacerbated by recent…
The Birth of NAFTA
It has its share of ardent supporters, who see it as a force for positive economic and social change, as…
The Search for Peace in Southern Africa – Oil, Angola, and the Proxy Wars
During the Cold War, the United States and the USSR engaged in a zero-sum game throughout the globe; while mutually…