You probably don’t need me to tell you that today is May Day, since I’m betting your ability to keep track of which day it is exceeds mine. May Day’s origins go back to pre-Christian European cultures, but nowadays for much of the world it’s also International Workers’ Day and, in some countries, Labor Day. Ironically, for … Continue reading Today in European history: the Taksim Square massacre (1977)
Tag: cold war
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Eisenhower Doctrine, or: They All Lived Happily Ever After (1957)
The United States enjoys two things more than just about anything else: doing war and making up doctrines about doing war. If you include “domestic” conflicts like the genocide of Native Americans, the United States has been at war for almost its entire existence, and of its 44 presidents, at least a quarter of them … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Eisenhower Doctrine, or: They All Lived Happily Ever After (1957)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 