From November 1983 to March of 1985 negotiations between the United States and the USSR languished, leading the U.S. to…
Paul Nitze and A Walk in the Woods — A Failed Attempt at Arms Control
In 1976, the USSR deployed hundreds of intermediate-range SS-20s (pictured), which were an upgrade of the older SS-3 and SS-4…
Nancy Reagan and the Runaway Chopper
When the First Lady of the United States comes to town, it requires almost as much planning and fanfare as…
A Crack in the Iron Curtain: Freeing Sharansky
As General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev authorized the release of thousands of Soviet Jews who wanted to leave the…
George Kennan — Containment and the Cold War
George Frost Kennan was, and still remains, a very controversial and legendary figure in American diplomatic history. As a historian,…
What Goes on Behind the Scenes When POTUS Comes to Town
One of the most daunting and stressful tasks a Foreign Service Officer abroad can face is supporting a visit by POTUS,…
“Years of Lead” — Domestic Terrorism and Italy’s Red Brigades
Beginning in 1970 and spanning over a decade, the “Brigate Rosse” (Red Brigades) and other smaller groups incited a wave…
Iraq’s Rocky Road to Recovery Post-Saddam
In the wake of the U.S.-led Coalition Forces invasion of Iraq in March, 2003 and dissolution of the Ba’ath Party,…
Stop the MADness — Arms Control and Disarmament
The end of World War II ushered in an era of intense arms competition between the Soviet Union and the…
De-Baathification and Dismantling the Iraqi Army
The 2003 American invasion of Iraq, which came not long after the invasion of Afghanistan, proved to be highly controversial,…