Showing results by narrator "Kevin Stillwell" in All Categories

The Trump administration’s bureaucratic problems do not come from an insidious, undemocratic “deep state” but simply from the state—the large, complex hive of people and procedures that constitute the U.S. federal government.

Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel, talks to Foreign Affairs about succeeding in the mobile sector, innovating in the developing world, and the future of governance in Africa.

Discussions of the Holocaust aside, Germany and Israel are still rarely mentioned in the same breath. Yet Berlin has long been one of the most successful - and secretive - intermediaries between Jerusalem and its enemies.

Recent surveys conducted in Syria reveal that Islamist fighters are surprisingly supportive of democracy. Here's why.

Riley Burke has it all: a successful advertising agency, a beautiful house, a trim sailboat, and a gorgeous wife. But no longer sure of his wife's love, he begins an affair, the first in their 10-year marriage. As Riley and his would-be lover wait on the dock in Newport Harbor for the launch to his boat, a young man nearby is attacked by a brutal thug. When Riley intervenes, he finds himself inextricably drawn into a chain of events that will change his life forever; he finds himself, suddenly, in dangerous waters.

Since the early 1990s, a handful of oligarchs has dominated Greece’s economy and politics. So long as these elites have a vested interest in keeping things as they are, the country will never fully find its way out of crisis.

Indonesia’s new president talks to Foreign Affairs about his recent victory, his national agenda, and the threat of Islamic extremism.

These stories introduce us not only to ordinary people seeking to live extraordinary lives, but also to the skunk ape (a southern variant of Bigfoot), the ghost of Jesse James, and a bone-tired Jack the Giant Killer. Whether it's Appalachia, Nashville, the Carolina Coast, or a make-believe land of talking dogs, each world Earley creates is indelible.

The heart-pounding true story of the plot to kill the most powerful man in America. In 1892, America was on the verge of another civil war, this one over industrial slavery. It was the era of robber barons, and none was more reviled for his harsh treatment of workers than industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The deadly Homestead Steel Strike that summer had left Frick with blood on his hands, and two young, impassioned radicals thought he should pay for his crimes.

Moral Ground brings together the testimony of over eighty visionaries, theologians and religious leaders, scientists, elected officials, business leaders, naturalists, activists, and writers to present a diverse and compelling call to honor our individual and collective moral responsibility to our planet. In the face of environmental degradation and global climate change, scientific knowledge alone does not tell us what we ought to do.

There is an emerging consensus that all is not well with today's market-centric economic model. Although it has delivered wealth over the last half century and pulled millions out of poverty, it is recession-prone, leaves too many unemployed, creates ecological scarcities and environmental risks, and widens the gap between the rich and the poor. Around $1 trillion a year in perverse subsidies and barriers to entry for alternative products maintain "business-as-usual" while obscuring their associated environmental and societal costs.

Despite all the grim predictions, the European Union is not on the verge of collapse. Quite the contrary: If European leaders act with resolve and persistence, the union could experience a rebirth.

Europe’s political climate is more hostile to Jews now than at any time in recent memory. Rising anti-Semitism among Europe’s Muslims, especially in the wake of the war in Gaza, is one reason for this change. But to claim that the rise of Muslim anti-Semitism is the main culprit - as the German journalist Jochen Bittner did this week in The New York Times - is to overlook the role played by the European majority.

Revolts against authoritarian regimes don’t always succeed - but they're more likely to if they embrace civil resistance rather than violence. Over the last century, nonviolent campaigns have been twice as likely to succeed as violent ones and they increase the chances that toppling a dictatorship will lead to peace and democracy.

Korb argues that Iraqi politicians and American generals, rather than the Obama administration, are to blame for the bungled withdrawal from Iraq. Brennan Replies.

Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot and founder of CyPhy Works, talks to Foreign Affairs about robots, Star Wars, and how to bring futuristic technology to market.

From the critically acclaimed author of The Apartment comes a powerful, poetic, and haunting exploration of loss, love, and isolation. An American living in London receives a phone call from a German policewoman telling him the nearly inconceivable news that his sister, Miriam, has been found dead in her Berlin apartment-from starvation. Three weeks later the man, his father, and an American consular official named Trish find themselves in the bizarre surroundings of a fogbound Munich Airport, where Miriam's coffin is set to be loaded onto a commercial jet.

Harrison Raines hunts for a savage double murderer on the killing fields of Shiloh. General Grant's army is camped along the Tennessee River, ready to deal a crushing blow to the South. If they are able to capture Corinth, the Confederacy's railways will disintegrate, bringing its army to its knees. But first, Grant must pass through the crucible of Shiloh - the most fearsome fight of the Civil War.

Carol Ruckdeschel is the wildest woman in America. She eats road kill, wrestles alligators, rides horses bareback, and lives in a ramshackle cabin that she built herself in an island wilderness. She’s had three husbands and many lovers, one of whom she shot and killed in self-defense. A combination of Henry David Thoreau and Jane Goodall, Carol is a self-taught scientist who has become a tireless defender of sea turtles on Cumberland Island, a national park off the coast of Georgia.

After a decade-plus of war, the lessons for the United States are clear: fight fewer, more traditional wars and fight them more decisively. Above all, avoid getting entangled in the politics of chaotic countries.