Diplomats working in the USSR had to contend with a wide range of difficulties – poor bilateral relations, KGB surveillance,…
End of an Era: The August Coup and the Final Days of the Soviet Union
In August 1991, Soviet hardliners attempted to overthrow the progressive Mikhail Gorbachev, Secretary General of the Communist Party, in a…
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…
India and Pakistan on the Brink: The 1998 Nuclear Tests
In May 1998, India conducted its first nuclear bomb tests since 1974 at the Indian Army Pokhran Test Range. Known…
Kashmir and the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War
In the summer of 1965, India and Pakistan returned to the battlefields of Kashmir in a renewed attempt to establish…
The Overthrow of President Obote and Evacuation from Uganda
After a disputed election brought Milton Obote (at right) to power in Uganda in 1980, one of his opponents, Yoweri…
A Never-ending Tragedy — The Onset of the AIDS Crisis in Africa
The spread of AIDS in Africa in the 1980s and 90s presented unique challenges for U.S. diplomats suddenly faced with…
Why We Stuck with Maliki — and Lost Iraq
To understand why Iraq is imploding, you must understand Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — and why the United States has…
The Iraqi Revolution — of 1958
In 1958, the 14 July Revolution ended the thirty-seven-year Hashemite monarchy of Iraq in a coup d’état and established the…