ZentrumsextremismusStaatsterrorismusAntisemitismus. Pogrome und LynchjustizBrainwashingGehirnwäsche"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate."

Today’s “Must Read” Stories

Nazis Triumph Over Communists in Ukraine

Obits for Happy Rockefeller blamed her for his political decline. Don’t believe it.

Yemen Museum Destroyed

New on the Homepage

Ramadi and Palmyra Blues by Andrew Meyer Both critics and supporters of Obama apparently think Iraqis need more training. This is specious. They could use their own air force but we won't let them have it. Too risky.

Video of the Week

The Rollercoaster Was Invented to Save America from Satan In the 1880s, LaMarcus Thompson was troubled by America's slide into hedonism and immorality. Out of that concern, we got the rollercoaster.

Roundup Top 10

HNN Tip: You can read more about topics in which you’re interested by clicking on the tags featured directly underneath the title of any article you click on. 

Jeb Bush Re-Writes the History of the Iraq War by Joseph A Palermo Nothing illustrates better the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the Republican war hawks who call themselves presidential candidates than their attempts to whitewash the history of how this nation went to war in Iraq.

Is it the US that isn’t stepping up to fight Daesh/ ISIL? by Juan Cole Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s blunt remarks on Sunday about the Iraqi army not having the will to fight have ruffled feathers in Baghdad and Tehran.

Michelle Obama Breaks the Rules by Garry Wills In her own quiet way Ms. Obama was breaking all of the four rules of racial discourse the right wing now wants to enforce.

The war on Rome by Maura Jane Farrelly For centuries, Americans saw the Catholic Church as a dangerous foreign enemy. Not any more. What changed?

Why it’s important to focus on the loss of heritage sites like Palmyra in Syria even as people are dying by Stephennie Mulder "Clearly, we must have have concern for people first, but culture is also an essential part of us as people, as human beings."

To Have and to Hold by Jill Lepore Reproduction, marriage, and the Constitution.

Reflections on the Marshall Plan by Henry Kissinger Henry Kissinger recalls when George C. Marshall, speaking at Harvard’s Commencement in 1947, extended America’s hand to a battered Europe, helping to create a stable postwar order.

Do America’s political parties matter in presidential elections? by RICHARD M. VALELLY The evolution of the presidential selection system suggests not that American political parties abandoned a key function of party politics sometime in the 1970s, that is, the task of picking the presidential nominee.

US Kneejerk support for Israeli Nukes Torpedoes UN Disarmament Talks by Juan Cole The US vetoed the document because it contained a clause requiring Israel to meet with Arab neighbors and to participate in talks leading to the making of the Middle East a nuclear free zone.

The Making of a Great Ex-President by Justin S. Vaughn Which of Mr. Obama’s predecessors have been the best ex-presidents and which have been the worst?

Breaking News

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Nazis Triumph Over Communists in Ukraine Laws signed into effect by President Petro Poroshenko require the renaming of dozens of towns and hundreds of streets throughout the country to eliminate Soviet-era names.

Sacrificed Humans Discovered Among Prehistoric Tombs A prehistoric cemetery containing hundreds of tombs, some of which held sacrificed humans, has been discovered near Mogou village in northwestern China.

Obits for Happy Rockefeller blamed her for his political decline. Don’t believe it. While his marriage to the divorcee was controversial, it was his backing of civil rights for blacks that doomed his presidential chances.

Historian investigates claim that Bugsy Siegel wanted to kill Goring It was said to be Bugsy's obsession according to the movie starring Warren Beatty. And the gangster probably met Goring. But there's no proof he tried to kill him despite the claims of various websites.

Sephardic Jews Feel Bigotry’s Sting in Turkey and a Pull Back to Spain Thousands of Sephardic Jews in Turkey who trace their ancestry to Spain are applying for Spanish citizenship in anticipation of a bill granting nationality to Jews expelled during the Inquisition.

Yemen museum destroyed The Dhamar Museum in Yemen, the repository of all work done in the province, including the Oriental Institute's work from 1978 onwards, has been destroyed.

Viking beaters: Scots and Irish may have settled Iceland a century before Norsemen Remarkably similar carvings and simple cross sculptures mark special sites or places once sacred, spanning a zone stretching from the Irish and Scottish coasts to Iceland.

Secret diary of a top Soviet official shows the leadership was in turmoil 15 years before the USSR’s demise The disclosure is contained in the now-published diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev.

New History Dispute Splits U.S. Allies in Asia South Korea opposes Japan’s plans to have Hashima certified by Unesco without recognition that Tokyo employed forced labor there

New exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum focuses on Iranian history It’s designed to help visitors understand the complexity of the society’s three turning points: 1953, 1979, and the Green Movement of 2009 through the art of Shirin Neshat.