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The Western Hemisphere blog
What the Monroe Doctrine Actually Said and Why It Still MattersThe 1823 message was a warning to European powers, not a license for American empire, and later presidents stretched it far beyond its text.When Sanctions Worked, When They Failed, and Why the Difference MattersFive sanctions campaigns, one scorecard: what the winners shared, why the losers fizzled, and a checklist for the next time Washington reaches for the button.Thirteen Days in October and What the Quarantine Teaches About ResolveKennedy's answer to the Cuban missiles sat between doing nothing and invading, and it shows why firmness with an exit ramp beats both.How Fentanyl Gets From a Chemical Shipment to the StreetFentanyl is a manufacturing problem with a supply chain, and every link, from precursors to laundering, is a place where policy can bite.From the 1989 Canada deal to USMCA, a timeline of North American tradeRepublicans and Democrats wrote North America's trade rules in turn. Dated entries from 1965 to the USMCA review clause show what each step changed.William Seward bought Alaska for about two cents an acre and got mockedThe 1867 Alaska purchase was jeered as folly and became one of the best land deals in history. Here is the arithmetic, the critics and the payoff.The Panama Canal From Teddy Roosevelt to the Treaties Fight of 1978The canal is the best lesson in American strategic geography, and the 1978 treaty fight split Republicans for reasons worth understanding.How the Reagan Doctrine Turned Containment Into RollbackReagan chose to back anti-Communist resistance movements instead of only holding the line, and the argument over that choice still divides the right.