We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago. The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come…

Atomic Steppe tells the untold true story of how the obscure country of Kazakhstan said no to the most powerful weapons in human history. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the marginalized Central Asian republic suddenly found itself with the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal on its territory. Would it give up these fire-ready weapons—or try to become a Central Asian North Korea? This book takes us inside Kazakhstan's extraordinary and little-known nuclear history from the Soviet period to the present. For Soviet officials, Kazakhstan's steppe was not an ecological marvel or beloved homeland, but an empty patch of dirt…

On June 13, 1910, Arthur James Balfour lectured the House of Commons on “the problems with which we have to deal in Egypt.” These, he said, “belong to a wholly different category” than those “affecting the Isle of Wight or the West Riding of Yorkshire.” He spoke with the authority of a long-time member of Parliament, former private secretary to Lord Salisbury, former chief secretary for Ireland, former secretary for Scotland, former prime minister, veteran of numerous overseas crises, achievements, and changes. During his involvement in imperial affairs Balfour served a monarch who in 1876 had been declared Empress of…

Chapitre XI CARTER ET LES OTAGES La crise des otages américains en Iran me permit de coopérer étroitement avec le président Carter. J'avais vécu à Téhéran au cours des trois premiers jours de 1980 une aventure inquiétante et apparement inutile ; j'étais rentré à New York le 4 janvier, avec l'impression d'avoir été absent pendant des semaines. Je ne me doutais pas que cette affaire allait encore durer treize mois. Dans le cadre familier et rassurant du siège de l'ONU, je fis le bilan de l'épreuve que je venais de traverser. Je n'avais pas obtenu la libération des otages, ce…

The Rise of Hizbullah  The impact of the Iranian revolution, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Israel's subsequent occupation of the south )1982-85), and the massacre of Palestinians and Lebanese in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps by Christian Phalangists with Israeli complicity, contributed to the formation of extremist revolutionnary Islamic organizations, in particular Hizbullah (Party of God) and al-Jihad, whose goals were to emulate Iran. Following Iran's example, they were against the utited States and Israel and sought to violently overthrow the Lebanese government and impose an Islamic state. Hizbullah's pro-Iranian orientation was clearly set forth in its…