Commentary

In the early 1990s, St. Petersburg’s First Deputy Mayor Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was a powerful figure in Mayor Sobchak’s liberal administration, often regarded as acting mayor. Without his help my American-owned company would probably have disbanded. Because of his...

The capture of Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish commandos last February ignited a national celebration in Turkey.  After all, Ocalan, the supremo of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was held responsible for the deaths of some 30,000 people, half...

As anyone who has tried knows, teaching teenagers about places far away, and in which they have no particular knowledge or special interest, is a challenge. It is especially a  challenge when typical American teenagers—generally affluent, monolingual, and seemingly...

Almost 150 years ago in California, and about 100 years ago in Alaska, the discovery of gold lured thousands to seek fortunes that seemed all but certain. Ultimately, of course, the only certainty was hardship. Very few of the...

The Greater Middle East — defined as the Arab world, Israel, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and the Caucasus — is the site of the world’s largest supply of fossil fuels and a place where several ambitious powers actively seek...

1. It is odd that Jews, a religious group, have Israel as a state. Israel is unique, but not exactly for this reason. In ordinary countries one can distinguish readily between ethnicity and religious affiliation among the people who...

To talk of “Classical Islamic Civilization” is to make three huge leaps of faith: What do we mean by civilization? How do we qualify Islam as a single civilization? And why focus on just the “classical” phase of whatever...

The FPRI’s History Institutes are weekend conferences designed to inspire, stimulate debate, and assist high school and junior college teachers by presenting the perspectives and analyses of leading scholars. The latest Institute, “Multiculturalism in World History,” aspired to give...

On September 13, 1999, Israel and the Palestinian Authority held a ceremonial opening of the final status talks ordained six years earlier by Oslo I. In fact, this was the third ceremonial opening of such talks: once in 1995,...

The war in Kosovo ended a few months ago, but the practice of “ethnic cleansing” is flourishing, this time perpetrated by ethnic Albanians who are proving even more adept at it than the Serbs. Whereas Serbian brutality and the...