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Departures with Robert Amsterdam

Dec 28, 2020

For much of China's history, the Communist Party leadership sought to portray the country's experience in World War II as that of a victim of Japan. But now, as China grows much more powerful and influential, the historical memory is also adapting to tell a different story.

This week we are joined by Rana Mitter, a...


Dec 23, 2020

The United States is a country that spent most of its history avoiding interventions, avoiding entanglement in great power politics, content to be isolated looking after their own affairs. Then suddenly, in just the past 75 years, it has become the world's preeminent armed power in a position of global leadership. How...


Dec 18, 2020

Over the past several years, Turkey's relations with both the European Union and the United States have come under strain by factors both internal and external. The complexities of these relationships, in addition to the management of tensions with Russia and the Middle East on numerous fronts are not often...


Dec 15, 2020

Following the World War I breakup of the Ottoman Empire, Prince Faisal came into Damascus to declare his determination to build a constitutional democracy which would serve as the primary building block of a new sovereign state with guaranteed rights for a pluralistic population. Secular modernizers and Islamic...


Dec 7, 2020

A favorite historical hypothetical question we often hear tossed around is what should the world have done differently to halt the rise of Nazi Germany and prevent World War II from taking place. But the truth is, the number of signals and signs of this approaching threat were numerous and often rather clear, and...