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About

William Pfaff, Columnist

 

William Pfaff is a globally respected political commentator and author on international relations, contemporary history and U.S. policy. He is published in five countries and his column is syndicated by Tribune Media Services.

Pfaff’s sometimes controversial opinions on international law, long-term U.S. policies and American foreign relations are noted for their deep concern with the influence of history on today’s affairs and their attention to the moral complexities of international politics and action.

Pfaff’s column studies European, Middle Eastern, Asian and American concerns through a prism influenced by the experiences of an American living abroad. He is regularly published in newspapers in Europe, the Middle and Far East, Latin America and the United States.

Pfaff is the author of eight books, including “The Wrath of Nations” (Simon and Schuster, 1993) and “Barbarian Sentiments: America in the New Century” (Hill and Wang, 2000). His latest book is “Fear, Anger and Failure: A Chronicle of the Bush Administration’s War Against Terror from the Attacks of September 11, 2001 to Defeat in Baghdad” (Algora Publishing, 2004). It offers a collection of his columns on the war on terror, from September 11th until December 2003, when the U.S. policy emphasis shifted from Iraq’s reconstruction to American withdrawal. The book has been praised by Russell Baker of The New York Times as “page after page in article after article {Pfaff was writing} what should have been said week after week as Bush’s cheery civilian warriors marched us into the Middle East. Really splendid work.”

Pfaff has contributed many political essays to The New Yorker magazine. In Europe, his articles have appeared in Commentaire (Paris), Lettre Internationale (Berlin), Politique Exterior (Madrid), Europaische Rundschau (Vienna), Moderna Tider (Stockholm), Forum (Munich), Die Zeit (Hamburg). In the United States he is published in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, World Policy Journal, and The National Interest, among other magazines. Pfaff is the former deputy director of Hudson Research Europe, the European affiliate of the well-known American policy research institute.

Pfaff is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He is based in Paris.




Truthdig Columns

2013

05/14 Can the EU Be Saved?

05/07 U.S. Weighs Syrian Intervention, Despite the Consequences

04/30 More Union in the EU Doubtful

04/23 Half-Baked Theories Continue to Direct Global History

04/17 A Right and Proper Death of the Euro

04/09 Anonymous Murder From a Safe Distance

04/02 War With Iran: Nothing Is What It Seems

03/19 New Century Is Off to a Wobbly Start

03/12 Bin Laden’s Influence Lives On After Him

03/05 Swiss Curb Executive Greed; Will Anyone Follow?

02/28 Americans Fear Iran but There Is Much to Learn From Cuba

02/12 U.S. and Israel Push the Boundaries of International Law

02/05 Military Interventions Rarely Fulfill Their Goals

01/29 Jihadism in North Africa Gets U.S. Attention

01/22 Obama’s Place in History Already Assured

01/15 God Loves Us and We Will Bomb You

01/08 Continued American Presence in Afghanistan a Recipe for More Disaster

2012

12/29 Need for Straight Talk From U.S. Defense Department

12/18 Global Governance at Heart of Failed Foreign Policies

12/11 Anyone Else Find the Threat of Syrian Chemical Weapons Eerily Familiar?

12/04 What Exactly Would Israel Like to Do With Its Palestinian Population?

11/29 As Hollande Struggles, So Does the Opposition

11/21 To the Brink Again for Israel and Gaza

11/13 Another Scandal Among Officers Who No Longer Win Wars

11/07 America’s Increasingly Diverse Electorate Is Heard

10/30 Drone Warfare: An Illegal Tactic Sure to Perpetuate U.S.-Muslim War Indefinitely

10/23 Final Debate Offers Unclear Choice of Troubling Policies

10/16 Arab Awakening and a Failed European Aeronautics Merger

10/09 Romney’s Foreign Policy a Puzzle That Doesn’t Fit Together

10/02 Major European Aerospace Merger Sends Shockwaves Around the Globe

09/25 Egypt’s President Reasserts his Country’s Sovereignty in World Affairs

09/18 Arab Outrage Should Come as No Surprise

09/11 Stalemate Is Preferable to Intervention in Syria

09/04 The Root of Europe’s Problem

08/29 A Brief History of Contempt Between Germany and Greece

08/21 Did Someone Say ‘War’?

08/14 Romney and Ryan Project Vague Foreign Policy

08/08 Islam’s Walls of Language

08/02 The National Debate Is a Disgrace

07/24 The Danger of Meddling in Syria’s Turmoil

07/17 Stalemate in Siena

07/11 Europe Still Trying to Squeeze Into America’s Jeans

07/03 Europe Bails Itself Out, for Now

06/26 Euro Must Have Reform, Not Americanization

06/19 Rise of the Managerial Class

06/12 Drone Warfare Foretells an Ever-Expanding and Illegal War

06/05 Any International Syrian Solution Is Tangled Up in Russia

05/29 The Age of Drones

05/16 Greece’s Balkan Inheritance Is Heavy

05/08 Elections Could Shift EU Away From Austerity, but Should They?

05/01 Catholicism and the GOP: An Awkward Tango

04/25 Forget Le Pen, It’s Down to Two

04/17 China Scandals: Crisis in the Communist Party

04/10 American Decline: Debated, Contested, Obvious

04/03 Toulouse Killings Send Tremors Through French Presidential Election

03/28 Regardless of Obama’s Gaffe, Nuclear Missile Defense Remains a Useless Endeavor

03/20 U.S. and NATO Make Afghanistan Plans Beyond 2014

03/13 Wars and Potential Wars Abound

03/06 The French Aren’t Thrilled With Their Presidential Candidates Either

02/28 Drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan: Recognition of Futility or Retreat From the Coming Storm?

02/15 Greek Unrest the Result of Suppressed Democracy

02/07 Europe Decides Not to Play America’s Game

01/31 Focus on Iran and China Could Hasten American Decline

01/25 Is a Nuclear Iran Really to Be Feared?

01/17 Election Will Decide Which New Wars Will Be Waged

01/10 Karzai’s Bagram Demands Add Stress to U.S. Policy

01/03 Ron Paul’s Popularity a Sign of a War-Weary America

2011

12/29 Fewer and Fewer Reasons for the West to Fixate on the Mideast

12/20 History Tells Us Not to Dismiss a Democratic Challenge to Obama

12/13 Germany Dominates Europe Once Again

12/06 Fiction, Fantasy and the Euro

11/30 The Fog in Our Future

11/22 Why Does Obama Suddenly Want a War With China?

11/16 Where Does Occupy Go From Here?

11/08 How Libya Plays Into NATO’s Identity Crisis

11/01 One Nation, Gone Awry

10/25 The Arab Spring Gets Messy, and Even Messier for the U.S.

10/18 Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party Movements More Alike Than Not

10/11 China Fears Are Misplaced

10/05 American Government’s Indifference to Popular Protest

09/27 Afghanistan Is Obama’s Gordian Knot

09/20 Strauss-Kahn and His Paris Reception

09/13 How to Save the United States and Israel From Themselves

09/06 Bin Laden’s Unintended Legacy

08/30 A Come-to-Jesus Moment for American Religion

08/23 Victory in Tripoli: They Did It

08/16 Assassination as Foreign Policy

08/09 The Man Who Doesn’t Want to Be President

08/02 The World Has Been Watching

07/26 Norway Attacks and Europe’s Failed Immigration Policies

07/20 Slapstick, Denial Highlight Murdochs’ Testimony

07/12 Robin Hood in Reverse

07/05 Democracy Building Is Back in Fashion

06/29 Greece and EU Attempt to Avoid Disastrous Default

06/14 Turkey in Position to Lead Region Out of Tumultuous Century

06/07 On His Way Out, Gates Talks About ‘Access’ to Asia

06/01 Budget Problems, America? Try Ending Your Many Wars

05/24 Libyan Intervention Exposes European Disunity

05/18 Strauss-Kahn Scandal an Embarrassment for France

05/03 A Fork in the Road: Where the U.S. Goes From Here

               

               


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