Stephen Kinzer

Last updated

Stephen Kinzer
Stephen Kinzer, American author, journalist and academic.jpg
Born (1951-08-04) August 4, 1951 (age 72)
Alma mater Boston University (B.A., 1973)
Known forAmerican author, journalist, and academic
Website http://www.stephenkinzer.com

Stephen Kinzer (born August 4, 1951) is an American author, journalist, and academic. A former New York Times correspondent, he has published several books and writes for several newspapers and news agencies.

Contents

Reporting career

During the 1980s, Kinzer covered revolutions and social upheaval in Central America and wrote his first book, Bitter Fruit, about military coups and destabilization in Guatemala during the 1950s. In 1990, The New York Times appointed Kinzer to head its Berlin bureau, [1] from which he covered Eastern and Central Europe as they emerged from the Soviet bloc. Kinzer was The New York Times chief in the newly established Istanbul bureau from 1996 to 2000. [1]

Upon returning to the U.S., Kinzer became the newspaper's culture correspondent, based in Chicago, as well as teaching at Northwestern University. [1] He then took up residence in Boston and began teaching journalism and U.S. foreign policy at Boston University. He has written several nonfiction books about Turkey, Central America, Iran, and the U.S. overthrow of foreign governments from the late 19th century to the present, as well as Rwanda's recovery from genocide.

Kinzer also contributes columns to The New York Review of Books , [2] The Guardian , [3] and The Boston Globe . [4] He is a Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. [5]

Views

Kinzer's reporting on Central America was criticized by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in their book Manufacturing Consent (1988), which cited Edgar Chamorro ("selected by the CIA as press spokesman for the contras") in his interview by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting describing Kinzer as "just responding what the White House is saying". [6] In chapter 2 of Manufacturing Consent , Kinzer is criticized for deploying no skepticism in his coverage of the murders of GAM leaders in Guatemala and for "generally employing an apologetic framework" for the Guatemalan military state. [6]

Kinzer has since that time criticized what he regards as interventionist U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America and more recently, the Middle East. [7] In Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq (2006), he critiqued U.S. foreign policy as overly interventionist. [8] In a 2010 interview with Imagineer Magazine, he said:

The effects of U.S. intervention in Latin America have been overwhelmingly negative. They have had the effect of reinforcing brutal and unjust social systems and crushing people who are fighting for what we would actually call "American values." In many cases, if you take Chile, Guatemala, or Honduras for examples, we actually overthrew governments that had principles similar to ours and replaced those democratic, quasi-democratic, or nationalist leaders with people who detest everything the United States stands for. [9]

In his 2008 book A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man who Dreamed It, Kinzer credits President Paul Kagame for what he calls the peace, development, and stability in Rwanda in the years after the Rwandan genocide, and criticizes Rwanda's leaders before the genocide, such as Juvenal Habyarimana.[ citation needed ] According to Susan M. Thomson, the "book is an exercise in public relations, aimed at further enhancing Kagame's stature in the eyes of the west", is one-sided due to heavy reliance on interviews with Kagame and even apologist. [10]

Kinzer has been criticised for "help[ing] spread Assad's propaganda". [11] In a 2016 opinion piece, Kinzer wrote that Aleppo had been liberated by Bashar al-Assad's forces from the violent militants who had ruled it for three years, but that the American public had been told "convoluted nonsense" about the war. He added: "At the recent debate in Milwaukee, Hillary Clinton claimed that United Nations peace efforts in Syria were based on 'an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva.' The precise opposite is true. In 2012 Secretary of State Clinton joined Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel in a successful effort to kill Kofi Annan's UN peace plan because it would have accommodated Iran and kept Assad in power, at least temporarily. No one on the Milwaukee stage knew enough to challenge her." [12] Clinton was referencing the Geneva I Conference on Syria, during which the major powers agreed on principles and guidelines for a power transition. [13]

In April 2018, he added:

According to the logic behind American strategy in the Middle East—and the rest of the world—one of our principal goals should be to prevent peace or prosperity from breaking out in countries whose governments are unfriendly to us. That outcome in Syria would have results we consider intolerable. [14]

Kinzer wrote that the 2018 Syrian Gas Attacks on Civilians in the Douma region was a "false flag" attack, suggesting the event was staged by either al-Qaeda, NATO, or Syrian Civil Defense. [15] [16]

Kinzer has opposed US support for Ukraine in response to the 2014 and 2022 Russian invasions, claiming that the war is a proxy war provoked by NATO expansion. [17] Kinzer claimed in March 2022, after Russia's initial invasion, that US provision of arms to Ukraine only "guarantees more suffering and death" and that it "provoke[s] Russia to respond by killing more Ukrainians." [18] Kinzer believes that "for American strategic planners, this war has little to do with Ukraine. They see it as a battering ram against Russia. Since saving Ukrainian lives is not their priority, they view diplomacy as an enemy." [19] Kinzer has rejected the "villainous" depiction of Vladimir Putin, stating: "For years, we reveled in our moral superiority over colorful nemeses like Castro, Khadafi, and Saddam Hussein. Putin fits perfectly into this constellation." [20]

Bibliography

TitleYearISBNPublisherSubject matterInterviews, presentations, and reviewsComments
Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala1982 ISBN   9780385148610 Doubleday 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Written with Stephen Schlesinger. Revised edition, 1999, Harvard University Press, ISBN   9780674075900.
Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua 1991 ISBN   9780399135941 G. P. Putnam's Sons Nicaraguan Revolution Revised edition, 2007, Harvard University Press, ISBN   9780399135941.
Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds 2001 ISBN   9780374131432 Farrar, Straus and Giroux Turkey Booknotes interview with Kinzer on Crescent & Star, October 21, 2001, C-SPAN
All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror 2003 ISBN   9781681620619 John Wiley & Sons 1953 Iranian coup d'état, Mohammad Mosaddegh, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Presentation by Kinzer on All the Shah's Men, October 8, 2003, C-SPAN
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq 2006 ISBN   9780805078619 Times Books United States involvement in regime change Presentation by Kinzer on Overthrow, April 10, 2006, C-SPAN
Presentation by Kinzer on Overthrow, June 4, 2006, C-SPAN
A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It2008 ISBN   9780470120156 John Wiley & Sons Paul Kagame, Rwandan Civil War Presentation by Kinzer on A Thousand Hills, June 18, 2008, C-SPAN
Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future2010 ISBN   9780805091274 Times Books Iran–U.S. relations, Israel–U.S. relations, Saudi Arabia–U.S. relations, Turkey–U.S. relations Presentation by Kinzer on Reset, June 15, 2010, C-SPAN Later published as Reset Middle East: Old Friends and New Alliances -- Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Iran, 2011, I. B. Tauris ISBN   9781848857650
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War 2013 ISBN   9780805094978 Times Books John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles Q&A interview with Kinzer on The Brothers, November 3, 2013, C-SPAN
Presentation by Kinzer on The Brothers, October 4, 2013, C-SPAN
The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire2017 ISBN   9781627792165 Henry Holt and Co. Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, American imperialism Presentation by Kinzer on The True Flag, January 26, 2017, C-SPAN
Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control 2019 ISBN   9781250140432 Henry Holt and Co. Sidney Gottlieb, MK-ULTRA Presentation by Kinzer on Poisoner in Chief, October 3, 2019, C-SPAN

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign relations of Russia</span> Overview of the foreign relations of Russia

The foreign relations of the Russian Federation is the policy arm of the government of Russia which guides its interactions with other nations, their citizens, and foreign organizations. This article covers the foreign policy of the Russian Federation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991. At present, Russia has no diplomatic relations with Ukraine due to its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Other than Ukraine, Russia also has no diplomatic relations with Georgia, Bhutan, Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Putin</span> President of Russia (1999–2008, 2012–present)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is the president of Russia. Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012, and as president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012. He is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Kagame</span> President of Rwanda since 2000 (born 1957)

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the fourth President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force which triggered the Rwandan genocide. Kagame's armed forces also carried genocidal massacres against civilians. He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he was Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000 after which the vice-presidential post was abolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergey Lavrov</span> Russian diplomat (born 1950)

Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is a Russian diplomat who has served as the foreign minister of Russia since 2004. He is the longest-serving foreign minister since the Tsarist era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carla Del Ponte</span> International jurist

Carla Del Ponte is a Swiss former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal law tribunals. A former Swiss attorney general, she was appointed prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in August 1999, replacing Louise Arbour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rwandan Civil War</span> 1990–1994 armed struggle between government forces and Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Rwanda

The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1 October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Power</span> American academic, author and diplomat (born 1970)

Samantha Jane Power is an American journalist, diplomat, and government official who is currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. Power is a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russia–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Russia and the United States maintain one of the most important, critical and strategic foreign relations in the world. Both nations have shared interests in nuclear safety and security, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and space exploration. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations became very tense after the United States imposed sanctions against Russia. Russia placed the United States on a list of "unfriendly countries", along with Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, European Union members, NATO members, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Micronesia and Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Rapp</span> American politician

Stephen J. Rapp is an American lawyer and the former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russia–Turkey relations</span> Bilateral relations

Russia–Turkey relations are the bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey and their antecedent states. Relations between the two are rather cyclical. From the late 16th until the early 20th centuries, relations between the Ottoman and Russian empires were normally adverse and hostile and the two powers were engaged in numerous Russo-Turkish wars, including one of the longest wars in modern history. Russia attempted to extend its influence in the Balkans and gain control of the Bosphorus at the expense of the weakening Ottoman Empire. As a result, the diplomatic history between the two powers was extremely bitter and acrimonious up to World War I. However, in the early 1920s, as a result of the Bolshevik Russian government's assistance to Turkish revolutionaries during the Turkish War of Independence, the governments' relations warmed. Relations again turned sour at the end of WWII as the Soviet government laid territorial claims and demanded other concessions from Turkey. Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and placed itself within the Western alliance against the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, when relations between the two countries were at their lowest level. Relations began to improve the following year, when the Soviet Union renounced its territorial claims after the death of Stalin.

The foreign policy of Vladimir Putin concerns the policies of the Russian Federation's president Vladimir Putin with respect to other nations. He has held the office of the President previously from 2000 to 2008, and reassumed power again in 2012 and has been President since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war</span> Involvement of Russia in the Syrian civil war

Russia has supported the administration of incumbent President Bashar al-Assad of Syria since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011: politically, with military aid, and with direct military involvement. The 2015 deployment to Syria marked the first time since the end of the Cold War in 1991 that Russia entered an armed conflict outside the borders of the former Soviet Union.

The Second Cold War, Cold War II, and the New Cold War are coined to describe heightened geopolitical tensions in the 21st century. The terms have been used to describe tense relations between the United States and China and between the United States and Russia—the successor state of the Soviet Union, which led the Eastern Bloc during the original Cold War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign policy of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election</span> Overview about the foreign policy of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election

This article describes the foreign policy positions taken by Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration</span> Foreign policy of the United States from January 2017 to January 2021

U.S. foreign policy during the presidency of Donald Trump (2017–2021) was noted for its unpredictability and reneging on prior international commitments, upending diplomatic conventions, embracing political and economic brinkmanship with most adversaries, and stronger relations with traditional allies. Trump's "America First" policy pursued nationalist foreign policy objectives and prioritized bilateral relations over multinational agreements. As president, Trump described himself as a nationalist while espousing views that have been characterized as isolationist, non-interventionist, and protectionist, although the "isolationist" label has been disputed, including by Trump himself, and periods of his political career have been described by the alternative term “semi-isolationist.” He personally praised some populist, neo-nationalist, illiberal, and authoritarian governments, while antagonizing others, even as administration diplomats nominally continued to pursue pro-democracy ideals abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dmytro Kuleba</span> Ukrainian politician and diplomat (born 1981)

Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is concurrently a member of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine.

2010s in Syria political history refers to events during the 2010s in political history of Syria.

<i>The Grayzone</i> US-based fringe news website and blog

The Grayzone is an American fringe, far-left news website and blog, founded and edited by American journalist Max Blumenthal. The website, initially founded as The Grayzone Project, was affiliated with AlterNet before becoming independent in early 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">On conducting a special military operation</span> 2022 speech by Russian president Vladimir Putin

"On conducting a special military operation" was a televised broadcast by Russian president Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2022, announcing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

There have been several rounds of peace talks to halt the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present) and end the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present) in an armistice. The first meeting was held four days after the start of the invasion, on 28 February 2022, in Belarus. It concluded without result, with delegations from both sides returning to their capitals for consultations. A second and third round of talks took place on 3 and 7 March 2022, on the Belarus–Ukraine border, in an undisclosed location in the Gomel region of Belarus. A fourth and fifth round of talks were respectively held on 10 and 14 March in Antalya, Turkey.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Stephen Kinzer". Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.
  2. ↑ "Stephen Kinzer". nybooks.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Stephen Kinzer". theguardian.com. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Stephen Kinzer - The Boston Globe". bostonglobe.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Stephen Kinzer - Watson Institute". brown.edu. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Chomsky, Noam; Herman, Edweard S. (2002). Manufacturing Consent. Pantheon Books. ISBN   978-0375714498.
  7. ↑ Interview about the United States and Iran, Democracy Now!, March 3, 2008 (video, audio, and print transcript)
  8. ↑ "Author Kinzer Charts 'Century of Regime Change'". NPR. April 5, 2006.
  9. ↑ "Imagineer :: Stephen Kinzer". December 3, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2009.
  10. ↑ Thomson, Susan M. (2008). "Review of A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It". International Journal. 64 (1): 304–306. doi:10.1177/002070200906400131. ISSN   0020-7020. JSTOR   40204478. S2CID   146485596.
  11. ↑ "How Western academics help spread Assad's propaganda". Middle East Eye. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  12. ↑ The media are misleading the public on Syria, February 18, 2016, The Boston Globe
  13. ↑ "The United Nations in the Heart of Europe - News & Media - Action Group for Syria - Final Communiqué - 30 June 2012". July 10, 2012. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012.
  14. ↑ Kinzer, Stephen. "The US doesn't even care about Syria — but we keep the war going". The Boston Globe.
  15. ↑ @stephenkinzer (May 19, 2019). "In case you fell for this one: chemical weapons monitors conclude that famous 2018 gas attack in #Syria was not an #Assad bombing--evidence shows "only plausible explanation" is "manual placement" by folks on the ground (al-Qaeda/#NATO/White Helmets)" (Tweet). Retrieved May 5, 2023– via Twitter.
  16. ↑ Kinzer, Stephen (April 27, 2018). "Hoisting the false flag". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  17. ↑ Kinzer, Stephen (March 9, 2023). "The incalculable moral cost of proxy wars". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  18. ↑ Kinzer, Stephen (March 18, 2022). "US military aid to Ukraine guarantees more suffering and death". StephenKinzer.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  19. ↑ Kinzer, Stephen (July 11, 2022). "Biden moves US closer to confrontation with Russia". StephenKinzer.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  20. ↑ Kinzer, Stephen (February 22, 2023). "Putin & Zelensky: Sinners and saints who fit our historic narrative". StephenKinzer.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.