Iran Hawks Are Falling for the 'Evil Wizard' Theory of Geopolitics
Assassinating enemy leaders isn’t a silver bullet for solving international conflict.
Cold War
Trump Wishes Americans Stayed in Afghanistan To Fight China
The president who helped end America’s longest war now regrets leaving behind U.S. bases.
In the Hands of the Jury
Plus: A new Cold War, Pope Francis using slurs, Israeli surveillance, and more...
How Did Kissinger Become an American Citizen?
Reason has obtained an exclusive copy of Henry Kissinger's immigration files from the 1940s.
Genre-Bending Anime Spy x Family Tackles Cold War Espionage
State power and oppressive surveillance serve as the backdrop for this animated spy comedy.
Goodbye to George Santos and Henry Kissinger
Plus: an unexpected digression into the world of Little Debbie dessert snack cakes.
Henry Kissinger's Deadly Career Gives the Lie to the Myth of the Disinterested Statesman
But his cynical brand of realism did at least lead him to caution against some of America's ideological military adventures.
The U.S. Credit Rating Just Dropped. It's Time for Radical Budget Reform.
The lack of oversight and the general absence of a long-term vision is creating inefficiency, waste, and red ink as far as the eye can see.
Matt Dallek: The John Birch Society's Deep Influence on Trump's GOP
The George Washington University historian argues that the group's paranoid mindset and obsessions are front and center in the modern GOP.
Daniel Akst: The World War II Pacifists Who Changed America Forever
"Christian libertarians" Bayard Rustin and David Dellinger challenged state power and ended up leading the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam War protests.
Want To Beat China? Let in More Chinese!
More immigration from China would both hobble a geopolitical rival and make America richer and better.
Did Biden Just Commit America to Another Forever War in Ukraine?
Plus: the editors field a listener question on intellectual property.
By Shooting Down Balloon, the Expensive, Useless F-22 Fighter Finally Won a Dogfight
After $67 billion and more than 20 years, the F-22 finally won a dogfight against an unarmed, nearly immobile opponent.
Nothing About the Chinese Balloon Saga Makes Sense
Plus: The French face "le wokisme," a Tennessee "eyelash specialist license" would require 300 hours education, and more...
The Press Idolizes Politicians. Instead, It Needs To Hold Them Accountable.
Newspapers deserve a great deal of credit for the expansion of freedom over the past 200 years. But the media have lost credibility.
It Wasn't What He Wanted, But Gorbachev Allowed an Evil Empire To Collapse
Alas, the Russians never forgave him.
Cuba Liberalizes Economy as Economic Crisis and Protests Grow
The island’s communist government announced it would allow foreign investors to enter its nationalized retail industry as it faces shortages, blackouts, and new protests.
James Kirchick: How Homophobia Warped the Cold War
The Secret City author explains how panic about homosexuality led to discrimination, bad policy, and, eventually, freedom.
After the War
In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it's time for Europe to step up and America to step back.
What Biden Can Learn from Eisenhower's 1957 State of the Union
The world's conscience had been shocked by Russia's recent invasion of a sovereign European state. Ike responded with sober, long-game containment in Europe...and more reckless escalation in the Middle East.
The Uses and Disadvantages of Soviet History for Life
It is hard to comprehend the scarcity and existential dread that was humanity's constant companion during the Cold War.
Scott Horton: U.S. Should Have Pulled Out Of Afghanistan Years Ago
The Enough Already: Time To End the War on Terror author on fixing foreign policy in the Joe Biden era.
Spy City Lives Up to Its Name with Complex Cold War Intrigue
AMC+ thriller takes viewers to paranoid, dangerous '60s Berlin.
The Queen's Gambit
The protagonist's speedy evolution into an anti–Cold Warrior is the better subplot.
Rock Legend Frank Zappa Battles Censorship, Communism, and Conformity in a New Documentary
Alex Winter's new film celebrates the Rock Hall of Famer's individualism, anti-authoritarianism, and entrepreneurship.
A Silicon Curtain Descends
Trump escalated America's war against Huawei and China. Biden should beware burgeoning technonationalism.
Alex Winter: Frank Zappa's Ultra-Individualist Legacy
The rock legend fought for free speech and self-expression in ways that appealed to dissidents in America and communist countries alike.
Taghi Amirani: How the U.S.-Backed 1953 Coup in Iran Is Still Changing Global Politics
New documentary explains why installing the shah in 1953 led to ruinous American covert operations throughout the Cold War and beyond.
Michael Shellenberger: Environmental Alarmism Is Wrong and Harmful
The Apocalypse Never author documents that things are getting greener and makes a case for nuclear power.
How Rob Long Went from Cheers to National Review to LSD
The long, strange, and unfinished trip of a sitcom-writing legend who turned right after the Cold War, co-founded a podcast empire, turned on to psychedelics, and got turned off to politics.
Escape from Earth
Was rocketry pioneer Frank Malina written out of some histories of space exploration for his political sins?
The Peace-Loving Military Robots' Plot
Friday A/V Club: That time NBC broadcast a radical Philip K. Dick fable to a 1950s audience
Meet the New President of the Foundation for Economic Education, America's Oldest Free Market Think Tank
Raised in Lithuania during the final years of the Cold War, Zilvinas Silenas wants to bring libertarian ideas to young people in the 21st century.
When the World Convulsed, George H.W. Bush (Mostly) Let Freedom Happen
We should, but probably won't, learn the lesson that U.S. presidents don't have to control or even fully understand world events.
John McCain, the Senate's Most Influential Hawk, Is Dead
The late Arizona senator's relentless energy and patriotic sense of honor led him to heroic acts of defiance, but also misguided support for disastrous foreign interventions.
What Do You Get if You Cross Red Dawn with a Cooking Show?
Friday A/V Club: The wild world of low-budget survivalist videos
The Americans Was a Show About Marriage, the Cold War, And Why Politics Is the Worst Way to Engage With Another Human Being
In this brilliant spy thriller, the personal and the political are always intertwined-but they are not always inseparable.
How To Understand The Americans Finale: Q&A with Show Creators Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields
One of the best, most-political and most-personal TV shows ever just ended. What did it all mean?
How Will The Americans' Final Season End? Q&A With the Creators Behind the Cold War Spy Drama
Executive Producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields discuss their critically acclaimed show, ideology, and how technology is ushering in the golden era of television.
The Vietnam War Is the Key to Understanding Today's America: Q&A with Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Their 18-hour miniseries looks at one of the most divisive, painful, and poorly understood episodes in American history.
If These Walls Could Sprechen
The story of a small German cottage built by Jews, seized by Nazis, gifted to a Stasi informant, and taken over by punk rockers
When the Russians Played the Olympic Villain For a Lot More Than Just Doping
1956's "Blood in the Water" match between Hungary and the Soviet Union brought war to the pool.
