Backstory

List of Backstory articles

MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/GettyImages
MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/GettyImages

The Afghan Bag Man

The foiled arrest that explains America’s failure in Afghanistan.

OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images
OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images

Saving Hugo Chávez

The United States never tried to kill the late Venezuelan leader. In fact, we may have even saved his life.

Gary Knight/VII
Gary Knight/VII

A Personal History, An American History

How one Marine's diary helps us understand the Iraq war.

Photo by KAMBOU SIA/AFP/Getty Images
Photo by KAMBOU SIA/AFP/Getty Images

Who Shot A.A.?

Mauritanians are still wondering who fired a gun at their country’s president. What the latest whodunit tells us about the state of democracy in a strategic corner of West Africa.

Getty Images
Getty Images

The Hot Seat

What you need to know about Benghazi going into this week's congressional hearings.

STR/AFP/GettyImages
STR/AFP/GettyImages

It Ain’t 1979 Anymore

Why this week's attacks on American embassies aren't the Iran hostage crisis all over again.

National Security Archives
National Security Archives

What Was at Stake in 1962?

A closer look at the nuclear stockpiles of the world's two superpowers as the Cuban Missile Crisis began.

GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/Getty Images
GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/Getty Images

Mexican Roulette

A deadly gun-running gamble just cost America's ATF chief his job. But the gun lobby gave him little choice but to try.

EMILY TROUTMAN/AFP/Getty Images
EMILY TROUTMAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Bad Boy Makes Good

What Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, Haiti's pop star turned president, learned from a lifetime in music.

PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images
PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images

What Would Marx Say about Cairo?

History repeats itself -- revolutions even more so.

AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images

The Serpent King

How a notorious Malaysian wildlife smuggler was brought to justice -- and what it tells us about stopping the world's most profitable black market.

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images

A Tale of Two Parties

The incredible story of how Egypt's entrenched regime will stop at nothing to stifle the birth of a liberal opposition movement.

AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images

How Not to Get Played by Ahmadinejad

A reporter's guide to interviewing the Iranian president.

Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

How Anti-Semitism Helped Create Israel

At a desperate moment in World War I, British elites appealed to what they saw as the monolithic, all-powerful forces of "international Jewry" to turn the tide of the conflict -- and promised them Palestine.

AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images

The Billionaire Prince

Saudi Arabia's Al-Waleed bin Talal is back in the spotlight for allegedly being one of the financiers behind the planned Islamic center in downtown Manhattan. Here are 10 things that you should know about the colorful royal.

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Inside the U.S.-China Tech War

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Over the last few years, the United States has moved to limit China’s technological rise. U.S.-led sanctions have imposed unprecedented limits on Beijing’s access to advanced computing c...Show more

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 24: U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participate in a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on September 24, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden is hosting a Quad Leaders Summit later today with Prime Minister Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide. (Photo by Sarahbeth Maney-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 24: U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participate in a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on September 24, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden is hosting a Quad Leaders Summit later today with Prime Minister Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide. (Photo by Sarahbeth Maney-Pool/Getty Images)

Is America Making a Bad Bet on India?

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For decades, the U.S. foreign-policy establishment has made the assumption that India could serve as a partner as the United States jostles with China for power in the Indo-Pacific region. B...Show more

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The war in Ukraine has propelled the United States and Europe closer on a variety of foreign-policy issues. But do Washington and Brussels agree on how to deal with Beijing’s growing clout...Show more

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Saving Hugo Chávez

The United States never tried to kill the late Venezuelan leader. In fact, we may have even saved his life.