Category Archives: History
Thought of the day
I have an Afhgan friend here in Cairo. He’s a brilliant guy, who is both endlessly proud of and frustrated with his country and he loves to give me history lessons. Recently, he brought two fascinating facts to my attention. … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan, History
Brits are Syrian
Via Josh Landis’s Syria Comment blog: Most Britons are direct descendants of farmers who left modern day Iraq and Syria 10,000 years ago, a new study has shown. After studying the DNA of more than 2,000 men, researchers say they … Continue reading
Filed under History
Restored relations
The State Department announced today that the United States will be sending an ambassador to Syria for the first time in four years. I, of course, welcome this news and want to congratulate Washington on its sound thinking. When I … Continue reading
Thoughts on an old book
Eric Alterman has a good post about William Appleman Williams’s famous book The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. Williams’s book feels a bit dated now–it was clearly written before post-structuralism and post-colonial theory infected the American academy–but it’s a good book … Continue reading
Filed under History
New Beginning?
After so much anticipation, how did President Obama’s “historic” address to the Muslim world actually turn out? Who knows if it will actually be the “new beginning” that the Obama Administration billed it as, but it seemed to me like … Continue reading
Filed under Democracy, Diplomacy, History, Israel-Palestine, Terrorism
Postmodern Holocaust denial?
There’s an interesting dialogue at Standpoint Online (I’d never heard of it before) between Israeli author AB Yehoshua and British author Howard Jacobson. (Via Jeffrey Goldberg, of course.) I don’t agree with everything they say, but really appreciate their discussion … Continue reading
Filed under History, Israel-Palestine, Jews, Postmodernism
Funny Wikipedia incident (for stupid readers only)
This evening I was wondering about what year oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia. For a quick answer I obviously turned to Wikipedia. So I pull up the page for History of Saudi Arabia and how does the first paragraph … Continue reading
Filed under History, Humor, Postmodernism
Contingency, Irony and Solidarity
I am taking a survey course on the history of the modern Middle East. The class isn’t exactly designed for a senior history major who has studied and traveled in the region and is writing an honors thesis about modern … Continue reading
Filed under College, History, Postmodernism
History lessons
I’m writing the second chapter of my thesis and just rediscovered this quote: “It is now clear that we are facing an implacable enemy whose avowed objective is world domination by whatever means and at whatever cost. There are no … Continue reading
Filed under College, History, Intelligence
