Excerpt
List of Excerpt articles
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Ratcliffe in a suit walks in profile past a semi-circle window in a white wall. When the Threat Is Inside the White House
What CIA insiders make of the MAGA moles and toadies now in charge of U.S. national security.
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Four women holding guns sit and stand in in a stone-walled shelter. The Secret Newspapers That Helped Defeat Fascism
The women behind Italy’s underground press during World War II offer important lessons for democracies today.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt waves as he speaks to a crowd in Chicago. How FDR Invented National Security
A presidential speech in 1937 marked an unexpected turn in U.S. strategic thought.
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A man sits behind jail bars while wearing an orange shirt. Who Is Viktor Bout, Really?
An investigative journalist heads to Moscow to hear from the “merchant of death” himself.
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Three soldiers with their faces covered stand on a balcony. How Wagner Cut Its Teeth in Syria
Russian mercenaries weren’t always welcomed by the state, but their fighting on behalf of Bashar al-Assad was a prelude to Ukraine.
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An aerial view shows the leveling of whole city blocks in Tokyo after U.S. incendiary bombing raids in 1945. The Forgotten Bombing
Eighty years on, the focus on the atomic bombs overlooks the impact of the Tokyo air raid.
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Figures are silhouetted in a smoke-filled scene above a heap of destruction. A bit of fire is seen in the foreground. How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology
The war has exposed post-World War II illusions of a common humanity.
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Factory workers form a picket line outside an auto plant in Louisville, Kentucky. How Great-Power Rivalry Hurts Ordinary Americans
Fighting with China won’t bring jobs home.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, wearing a suit, ducks under a tank as military officials in camouflage gear walk with him. Don’t Talk About the War
The German political establishment has no idea what war looks like today—and doesn’t want to know.
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A group of soldiers in uniforms and hats are seen from behind standing between the columns of a building. Below them is a teeming crowd filling a square a statue above them in the distance. Welcome to Weimar 2.0
Today’s global powers are running a strange simulation of the weak and wobbly republic that governed Germany before World War II.
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A black-and-white photo shows soldiers carrying guns and wearing helmets, seen from behind as they head toward something burning on the horizon. Plumes of smoke billow into the sky. The 20th Century’s Lessons for Our New Era of War
Once again, Eurasian autocracies seek to upend the balance of power.
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A worker sits in a field of downed sugarcane. A dirt road is seen behind him with growing sugarcane on either side. The Lessons of South Africa’s Stolen Land
Transfers of territory are central to the country’s efforts at racial reconciliation.
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A police officer wearing a reflective vest holds up her hand to halt an oncoming truck on a multi-lane highway beneath a cloudy gray sky. When the World Closed Its Doors
Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the ease with which governments shut borders offers worrisome lessons.
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A group of young children all wearing the same red shirt and khaki pants take part in a ceremony. The Only Way to Achieve Lasting Peace in Ukraine
History shows that security arrangements alone will not be enough.
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Xi Jinping is seen from the side walking past a blue background with a bird. What Will a Post-Xi China Look Like?
Kevin Rudd on the fragility of Xi’s long-term ideological project.
