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What did Chamberlain do? What is appeasement? And what happened to John McCain's arms? One of the little election year mini-dramas making the Internet rounds is of MSNBC's Chris Matthews' insistent questioning of talk show host Kevin James over the issue of appeasement. "What did Chamberlain do?" Matthews asks his Hardball guest repeatedly. Mr. James was unable to answer with historical specifics. As it happens, I've met Mr. Matthews, spending an afternoon with him several years ago at his MSNBC office in the company of a friend who was interviewing him for a profile in the Financial Times. The article...

What did Chamberlain do? What is appeasement? And what happened to John McCain's arms? One of the little election year mini-dramas making the Internet rounds is of MSNBC's Chris Matthews' insistent questioning of talk show host Kevin James over the issue of appeasement. "What did Chamberlain do?" Matthews asks his Hardball guest repeatedly. Mr. James was unable to answer with historical specifics. As it happens, I've met Mr. Matthews, spending an afternoon with him several years ago at his MSNBC office in the company of a friend who was interviewing him for a profile in the Financial Times. The article...

How woefully ignorant is the Democratic front-runner on matters of national security, international relations and the intractable conflicts that have plagued the Middle East for decades? The recent foreign policy statements of the former community organizer have demonstrated such incorrigibly poor judgment and appalling naivete that three prominent Democrats have seen fit to distance themselves from Obama’s ludicrous position, which he somehow views as virtuous, of meeting unconditionally with the nations enemies. Senator Joe Biden tells us that Obama, “gave the wrong answer” in last July’s YouTube debate, but he assures us that Obama has, “learned a hell of a...

Bush's comments about appeasement reverberated across the U.S. campaign trail, offering a new platform for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to sharpen their lines of attack. In the speech, Bush warned that the United States must not negotiate with Iran or radical groups such as Hamas. "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush told the Israeli lawmakers. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared:...

So, Dubya goes before the Israel Knesset for their 60th Anniversary and criticizes appeasement: "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," the President said to the country's legislative body, "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is –- the false comfort of appeasement, which has...

John Burroughs is executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy...What is needed is not another UN Security Council resolution strengthening existing sanctions. Rather the Bush administration should talk directly with Iran, and soon, because the U.S.-Iran confrontation is heating up dangerously...In a recent interview, Nobel Peace Prize winner ElBaradei said, "We are moving rapidly toward an abyss." It is not too late to step away.

LONDON (Reuters) - Six years after the September 11 attacks, a few cautious voices are beginning to suggest the unthinkable -- maybe it is time to consider talking to al Qaeda. The idea will revolt some people and raises obvious questions -- through what channels could such a dialogue take place and what would there be to negotiate? But proponents say al Qaeda has established itself as a de facto power, whether the West likes it or not, and history shows militant movements are best neutralized by negotiation, not war. "No insurgency or terrorism has been defeated by warfare or...

With British confidence in their leaders at a low ebb, new Prime Minister Gordon Brown assumed office last week pledging to undertake measures designed to restore public trust in the government. Following through on his promise, Brown presented a new plan Tuesday that would dramatically revise the Constitutional powers of the British government, with an eye to strengthening the checks and balances. In his first statement to the House of Commons since assuming power last week, Brown said he would surrender to Parliament 12 powers traditionally reserved for the prime minister under the "Royal prerogative," including the power to declare...

...I've spent a great deal of time thinking about Churchill while working on my book "Troublesome Young Men," a history of the small group of Conservative members of Parliament who defied British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler, forced Chamberlain to resign in May 1940 and helped make Churchill his successor. I thought my audience would be largely limited to World War II buffs, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the president has been reading my book. He hasn't let me know what he thinks about it, but it's a safe bet that he's identifying...

Ramping up on Iran Because Neville Chamberlain didn't think the worst of Adolf Hitler, millions and millions of people paid a price in lives and treasure. Because President Roosevelt didn't think the worst of Japanese militarism, Pearl Harbor happened. Because we didn't think the worst of Islamofascism, the attacks of September 11, 2001, happened. Because we didn't think the worst of Saddam Hussein, the elder President Bush left Saddam on his throne so Iraq could fight another day. There are some American statesmen who think the worst of Iran. Newt Gingrich, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, said in a message...

Did Hirohito play an active part in planning and conducting the war? Japanese emperor Hirohito expressed doubts about going to war with China in the 1930s and 40s, extracts from a diary of one of his advisers reveal. They show Hirohito was afraid the Soviet Union would intervene. The diary by Kuraji Ogura, who worked as a chamberlain to Hirohito in World War II, was found recently and parts have been published in Japan's media. The full text may help solve the debate about how much responsibility the emperor had for Japan's wartime action. South Pacific visit The document...

By Pedro O. Vega As published today in the Johnstown Tribune DemocratThe situation in which we find ourselves in Iraq because of the war on terror defies my attempts at originality to describe. I find myself in need of laying hold of aphorisms and clichés said by the truly Great Ones, and some not-so-great. The first one that comes to mind is from Thomas Paine, an American Founding Father, written in 1776. It’s one I used in a previous column, one I keep returning too because of its sheer wisdom: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer...

Every decision we make involves risks and benefits. On the world stage, the upside of preemption is that we don't have to live through the consequences of appeasement. The downside is the endless chattering and speculation of politicians and pundits because preemption assures that we'll never know what those consequences might have been. For parents of teenagers the analogy is obvious. We're confronted every day with conflicts that require parental judgment and the judicious application of authority. When my sixteen year old son asks if he can get on the subway and go to a video-game show in the city,...

How best to respond to Iran's bullish nuclear ambitions? Hawks can be dismissed as warmongers; doves can be blamed for a policy of appeasement, as our history shows. Few things are as important for humanity as the issue of war or peace. Yet whether to fight or not can be a very controversial subject. Getting the decision right depends on timing as well as judgement. I learnt that lesson when young, because I remember Neville Chamberlain's return from Munich. He waved his famous piece of paper with Hitler's signature on it and the British people were told there was to...

In his upcoming book about the horrors of the 20th century, "The War of the World," the British historian Niall Ferguson has a chapter called "The Pity of Peace." It is about 1938, when World War II loomed, and Britain -- especially and importantly Britain -- did precious little to stop it. The warnings of Churchill -- "believe me, it may be the last chance . . ." -- were ignored, and the government under Neville Chamberlain obstinately pursued a policy that forever after made the word appeasement one of the most odious in history. Somehow, though, it looks like...

The U.S. Defense Secretary’s comparison of the anti-war movement in the United States today with its historical analogue in Great Britain in the 1930s sent the left into a tailspin. Locally at least one university figure has taken issue with it in print. “Knowing the facts of history is crucial to much of what we do as a nation and a people, but so is how it is used,” John Prados wrote on tompaine.com on August 31st. “And the Bush administration’s use of history—and specifically its use of ‘appeasement’—requires comment because it is both dangerous and misleading.” “In the past...

When the Wisconsin Democratic Party's state convention voted last year for a resolution urging the impeachment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, I'll admit that I was skeptical. Of course Bush should be impeached. He is either the most incompetent person to hold the office since pre-Civil War bumbler Franklin Pierce, the most corrupt person to hold the office since Teapot Domer Warren Harding, or perhaps both. An impeachment trial would get to the bottom of the question of whether it was gross negligence or determined deception that led him to dramatically inflate the...

The Washington Post warns of "Pakistan's Awkward Balancing Act on Islamic Militant Groups." But if one looks closely at the actions of Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, it is clear that he has made his choice to side with the West, there's no going back, and he is beyond the pale of reconciliation with his country's lunatic Islamists. The scale has tipped to one side. It is time for Musharraf to explicitly say so and do so, as he'll never appease Pakistan's radicals. Here's an excerpt from the Post: The basic problem for Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is that he...

US, French diplomats working on new formula that would lead to ceasefire in North; new proposal may be submitted to UN by Friday; sources say agreement based on French military deployment on northern border. Senior Israeli official: Revised UN Resolution will stop short of requiring peacekeepers to disarm Hizbullah Getting close to ceasefire? While the IDF is preparing to expand military operations, a French-American proposal for a cease-fire is being formulated Thursday evening and may be presented to the United Nations Security Council by Friday. According to various reports, the agreement is based on the deployment of French troops on...