Stephen Kinzer

“Western powers remain imprisoned by the idea that the world is a dangerous place, that it needs to be managed, and that they are called upon to do the managing.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has denounced negotiation with Iran as a 'historic mistake' that is making the world 'a more dangerous place.' His partners in Washington vigorous...”

“Rebels in Darfur have learned the value of mobilizing western human rights groups to prolong wars, and this lesson is working gloriously for them.”

“Sultan Beyazid considered his father's art collection decadent and ordered it sold at auction.”

“In the 1980s, the U.S. Army invaded two Caribbean countries, Grenada and Panama, to depose leaders who had defied Washington.”

“No step the United States could take anywhere in the world would bring strategic benefits as great as detente with Iran.”

“Honduras is strongly anti-Communist, maintains no diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and has provided vital support for United States-backed rebels fighting to overthrow the Sandini...”

“No one will presumably ever be able to prove or disprove such fundamental religious principles as the existence of God.”

“During the Reagan Administration, so much attention was devoted to fighting Marxism in Nicaragua and El Salvador that Washington lost sight of longer-term challenges in other countries.”

“Hostility toward Iran may not be the silliest of all American foreign policies - that would probably be the continuing trade embargo of Cuba - but it is undoubtedly the most self-defeating.”

“In fairness, Latin America's elected civilian leaders have made progress in some areas. They have brought their countries back to international respectability, curbed flagrant human rights v...”

“No offense to Iceland, but Latin America is where the fugitive leaker Edward Snowden should settle.”

“American strategic doctrine suggests that Mexico is of second-level importance to the United States. It ranks below Japan and Indonesia, Brazil and India, Egypt and Israel, and European powe...”

“The dramatic rise of Turkey in the councils of world power was one of the main geopolitical developments of 2010.”

“Guerrilla leaders win wars by being paranoid and ruthless. Once they take power, they are expected to abandon those qualities and embrace opposite ones: tolerance, compromise and humility. A...”

“Was Castro sincere when, during his guerrilla war, he swore that he was not a Communist? If so, when did he change, and why? Looking back, does he believe he might have chosen a better cours...”

“One October day in 1976, a Cuban airliner exploded over the Caribbean and crashed, killing all 73 people aboard. There should have been 74. I had a ticket on that flight, but changed my rese...”

“Washington sees the various local and national conflicts in the Middle East as part of a battle for regional hegemony between the U.S. and Iran.”

“Only one American has given his life for Iranian democracy. He was a young idealist from Nebraska named Howard Baskerville. In 1907, fresh out of Princeton, Baskerville went to Iran as a sch...”

“One of the immutable patterns of history is the rise and fall of great powers. Those that survive are the ones that adapt as the world changes.”