As a soldier in the U.S. Army towards the end of World War II, George Jaeger, who was part of…
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…
The Collapse of Order in the Middle East
Will Rogers once observed that “when you get into trouble 5,000 miles from home, you’ve got to have been looking…
The Iran Hostage Crisis — “I had very little faith in my government protecting me”
On November 4, 1979, some 3000 radical Iranian students protested at the U.S. embassy. The embassy had been taken over…
Argentina’s Dirty War and the Transition to Democracy
It was one of the darkest periods in Latin American history. From 1976-1983, a brutal military junta ruled Argentina in…
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…
Negotiating the Montreal Protocol on Protecting the Ozone Layer
As global concerns grow over the effect of climate change and the devastating effects it already is beginning to have…
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 Grisly Tradition of Beheading
The act of beheading has been used as a means for execution and retribution for millennia. The guillotine, which was…