Crimea and the war for identity: From the Mongol siege of Kiev to Putin’s campaign to erase Ukraine
In December of 1240, the Mongol Empire unleashed hell upon the capital of Kievan Rus’. Under the command of Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, the Mongol horde breached the fortified city of Kiev after a ten-week siege. What followed was a calculated massacre....
How Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web tore apart the idea that aircraft far behind the front lines are safe
By Benjamin Jensen, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Marine Corps University School of Advanced Warfighting; Scholar-in-Residence, American University School of International Service A series of blasts at airbases deep inside Russia on June 1, 2025, came as a...
An estimated 30,000 North Korean troops prepare to join Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine
North Korea is expected to deploy tens of thousands of troops to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine, in what intelligence assessments describe as one of the most significant foreign reinforcements to Russian ground forces since the invasion began. The move could...
How third parties like the Know-Nothings, Free Soilers, and others shaped U.S. politics
Elon Musk’s plan to create a new political party puts him in the company of a long line of business and political titans looking to upend the two-party system that has dominated U.S. politics since almost the beginning. From the Anti-Masonic Party in the early...
Local governments embrace ChatGPT as city workers use AI tools to write grants and policy drafts
Before the mayor of San Jose, California, arrives at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new business, his aides ask ChatGPT to help draft some talking points. “Elected officials do a tremendous amount of public speaking,” said Mayor Matt Mahan, whose recent...
The Outlaw Josey Wales: How the classic Western unintentionally hid the Lost Cause myth in plain sight
When the motion picture “The Outlaw Josey Wales” premiered in theaters across America in 1976, it was quickly embraced as a bold, revisionist Western that rejected the romantic simplicity of old Hollywood. With Clint Eastwood directing and starring, the...
U.S. Supreme Court is still processing lawsuits over the 2020 census halfway to the next one
The United States is halfway to the next once-a-decade census, but the Supreme Court is still dealing with lawsuits that grew out of the last one. The justices took up a challenge in March to Louisiana’s congressional map, which was drawn so that, for the first...
Türkiye begins restoration of Hagia Sophia’s historic domes to protect the landmark from earthquakes
Türkiye has begun a new phase in sweeping restorations of the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, focusing on preserving the monument’s historic domes from the threat of earthquakes. Officials say the project will include reinforcing Hagia...
Detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” detail inhuman conditions ranging from rotting food to open sewage
At the brand new Everglades immigration detention center that officials have dubbed ” Alligator Alcatraz,” people held there say worms turn up in the food. Toilets don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects are...
DEI programs are being rolled back even as research shows they substantially increase corporate profits
By Rodney Coates, Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Miami University Few issues in the U.S. today are as controversial as diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are commonly referred to as DEI. Although the term didn’t come into common usage until the...
How the myth of the “lone gunman” hides the political forces behind violent extremism in White culture
By Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton When shots rang out in Minnesota, targeting state Democratic politicians, the headlines quickly followed a familiar script: a mentally unstable suspect and the well-worn label “lone gunman.”...
Republicans’ $1 trillion slash to Medicaid will devastate America’s rural hospitals in Red States
Tyler Sherman, a nurse at a rural Nebraska hospital, is used to the area’s aging farmers delaying care until they end up in his emergency room. Now, with Congress planning around $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years, he fears those farmers and the more...
