Editing Stephen Kinzer

{{Short description|American journalist and author (born 1951)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{BLP primary sources|date=December 2016}}
{{BLP sources|date=May 2015}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Stephen Kinzer
| image              = Stephen Kinzer, American author, journalist and academic.jpg
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1951|8|4}}
| alma_mater         = [[Boston University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| known_for          = American author, journalist, and academic
| notable_works      = 
| website            = http://www.stephenkinzer.com
}}
'''Stephen Kinzer''' (born August 4, 1951) is an American author, journalist, and academic. A former ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' correspondent, he has published several books and writes for several newspapers and news agencies.

==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,<ref name=carnegie>{{cite web|url=https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/people/data/stephen_kinzer.html|title=Stephen Kinzer|publisher=[[Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs]]}}</ref> from which he covered Eastern and Central Europe as they emerged from the [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet bloc]]. Kinzer was ''The New York Times'' chief in the newly established [[Istanbul]] bureau from 1996 to 2000.<ref name=carnegie/>

Upon returning to the U.S., Kinzer became the newspaper's culture correspondent, based in Chicago, as well as teaching at [[Northwestern University]].<ref name=carnegie/> He then took up residence in Boston and began teaching journalism and [[United States foreign policy|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.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

Kinzer also contributes columns to ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/stephen-kinzer/|title=Stephen Kinzer|work=nybooks.com|access-date=December 13, 2016}}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stephenkinzer|title=Stephen Kinzer|work=theguardian.com|access-date=December 13, 2016}}</ref> and ''[[The Boston Globe]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/contributors/skinzer|title=Stephen Kinzer - The Boston Globe|work=bostonglobe.com|access-date=December 13, 2016|archive-date=September 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917155018/https://www.bostonglobe.com/contributors/skinzer|url-status=dead}}</ref> He is a Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs at the [[Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs]] at [[Brown University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/kinzer|title=Stephen Kinzer - Watson Institute|work=brown.edu|access-date=December 13, 2016}}</ref>

==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 to what the White House is saying".<ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kv_-bvCqgrEC&pg=PA382|title=Manufacturing Consent|author1-last=Chomsky|author1-first=Noam|author2-last=Herman|author2-first=Edweard S.|author-link1=Noam Chomsky|author-link2=Edward S. Herman|year=2002|publisher=[[Pantheon Books]]|isbn=978-0375714498}}</ref> In chapter 2 of ''[[Manufacturing Consent]]'', Kinzer is criticized for deploying no skepticism in his coverage of the murders of [[Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo|GAM]] leaders in Guatemala and for "generally employing an apologetic framework" for the Guatemalan military state.<ref name="auto"/>

Kinzer has since that time criticized [[interventionism (politics)|interventionist]] [[foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]] toward [[Latin America]] and more recently, the [[Middle East]].<ref>[http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/3/stephen_kinzer_on_the_us_iranian Interview about the United States and Iran], ''[[Democracy Now!]],'' March 3, 2008 (video, audio, and print transcript)</ref> In ''[[Overthrow (book)|Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq]]'' (2006), he critiqued U.S. foreign policy as overly interventionist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5325069|title=Author Kinzer Charts 'Century of Regime Change'|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=April 5, 2006}}</ref> In a 2010 interview with ''Imagineer'' Magazine, he said:

{{quote|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imagineermagazine.com/index.php/issue_archives/autumn/stephen_kinzer|title=Imagineer :: Stephen Kinzer|date=December 3, 2009|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203105316/http://www.imagineermagazine.com/index.php/issue_archives/autumn/stephen_kinzer|archive-date=December 3, 2009}}</ref>}}

In his 2008 book ''A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man who Dreamed It'', Kinzer credits [[President of Rwanda|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|date=December 2016}} 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomson |first1=Susan M. |title=Review of A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It |journal=International Journal |date=2008 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=304–306 |doi=10.1177/002070200906400131 |jstor=40204478 |s2cid=146485596 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40204478 |issn=0020-7020|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

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."<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/02/18/the-media-are-misleading-public-syria/8YB75otYirPzUCnlwaVtcK/story.html The media are misleading the public on Syria], February 18, 2016, ''[[The Boston Globe]]''</ref> 

In April 2018, he added:
{{Quote|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/04/12/the-doesn-even-care-about-syria-but-keep-war-going/8zj7aaBaOPltRApGzgyd9H/story.html|title=The US doesn't even care about Syria — but we keep the war going  |first=Stephen| last=Kinzer|work=The Boston Globe}}</ref>}}Kinzer wrote that the [[2018 Douma chemical attack|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.<ref>{{cite tweet |title=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) |user=stephenkinzer |number=1129906333128568834 |date=2019-05-18 |access-date=2023-05-05 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |date=April 27, 2018 |title=Hoisting the false flag |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/04/27/hoisting-false-flag/hRC63gFcq1zMUmd8UObqLM/story.html |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=BostonGlobe.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Kinzer has opposed US support for Ukraine in response to the [[2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine|2014]] and [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|2022]] Russian invasions, stating that the war is a [[proxy war]] provoked by [[NATO expansion]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Stephen |last=Kinzer |date=March 9, 2023 |title=The incalculable moral cost of proxy wars |newspaper=Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/09/opinion/incalculable-moral-cost-proxy-wars/ |access-date=2023-05-05}}</ref> Kinzer said 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."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |date=2022-03-18 |title=US military aid to Ukraine guarantees more suffering and death |url=https://stephenkinzer.com/2022/03/us-military-aid-to-ukraine-guarantees-more-suffering-and-death/ |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=StephenKinzer.com |language=en-US}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |date=2022-07-11 |title=Biden moves US closer to confrontation with Russia |url=https://stephenkinzer.com/2022/07/biden-moves-us-closer-to-confrontation-with-russia/ |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=StephenKinzer.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Kinzer has rejected the "villainous" depiction of [[Vladimir Putin]], stating: "For years, we reveled in our moral superiority over colorful nemeses like [[Fidel Castro|Castro]], [[Muammar Gaddafi|Khadafi]], and [[Saddam Hussein]]. Putin fits perfectly into this constellation."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |date=2023-02-22 |title=Putin & Zelensky: Sinners and saints who fit our historic narrative |url=http://stephenkinzer.com/2023/02/putin-zelensky-sinners-and-saints-who-fit-our-historic-narrative/ |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=StephenKinzer.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

{| class="wikitable"
!Title!!Year!!ISBN!!Publisher!!Subject matter!!Interviews, presentations, and reviews!!Comments
|-
|''[https://archive.org/details/stephen-schlesinger-stephen-kinzer-bitter-fruit-the-storyofthe-american-coupin-guatemala Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala]''||1982||{{ISBN|9780385148610}}||[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]||[[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état]]|| ||Written with [[Stephen Schlesinger]]. Revised edition, 1999, [[Harvard University Press]], {{ISBN|9780674075900}}.
|-
|''[https://archive.org/details/bloodofbrothersl00kinz 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}}.
|-
|''[https://archive.org/details/crescentstarturk00kinz Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds]''||2001||{{ISBN|9780374131432}}||[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]]||[[Turkey]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?166753-1/crescent-star-turkey-worlds ''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]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?178722-1/all-shahs-men 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]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?192065-1/overthrow-americas-century-regime-change Presentation by Kinzer on ''Overthrow'', April 10, 2006], [[C-SPAN]]<br>[https://www.c-span.org/video/?192944-5/overthrow Presentation by Kinzer on ''Overthrow'', June 4, 2006], [[C-SPAN]]||
|-
|''[https://archive.org/details/thousandhillsrwa0000kinz A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It]''||2008||{{ISBN|9780470120156}}||[[John Wiley & Sons]]||[[Paul Kagame]], [[Rwandan Civil War]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?280860-1/a-thousand-hills-rwandas-rebirth-man-dreamt-it Presentation by Kinzer on ''A Thousand Hills'', June 18, 2008], [[C-SPAN]]||
|-
|''[https://archive.org/details/resetiranturkeya0000kinz Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future]''||2010||{{ISBN|9780805091274}}||[[Times Books]]||[[Iran–U.S. relations]], [[Israel–U.S. relations]], [[Saudi Arabia–U.S. relations]], [[Turkey–U.S. relations]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?294772-1/reset-iran-turkey-americas-future 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]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?315393-1/qa-stephen-kinzer ''Q&A'' interview with Kinzer on ''The Brothers'', November 3, 2013], [[C-SPAN]]<br>[https://www.c-span.org/video/?316866-1/the-brothers Presentation by Kinzer on ''The Brothers'', October 4, 2013], [[C-SPAN]]||
|-
|''[https://archive.org/details/trueflagtheodore0000kinz The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire]''||2017||{{ISBN|9781627792165}}||[[Henry Holt and Co.]]||[[Theodore Roosevelt]], [[Mark Twain]], [[American imperialism]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?421316-2/stephen-kinzer-discusses-the-true-flag 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]]||[https://www.c-span.org/video/?464648-1/poisoner-chief Presentation by Kinzer on ''Poisoner in Chief'', October 3, 2019], [[C-SPAN]]||
|}

==See also==
* [[Timeline of United States military operations]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
<!-- per [[WP:ELMINOFFICIAL]], choose one official website only -->
* {{official website|http://www.stephenkinzer.com}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927032701/http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/298/americas_century_of_regime_cha/ Interview with Kinzer]}} for ''[[Guernica Magazine]]''
* {{C-SPAN|91275}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070702074512/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2006/04/26 "Empirical Evidence"]}}, on [[WNYC]]'s ''The Brian Lehrer Show,''  April 26, 2006
* [https://archive.org/details/GreatSpeechesAndInterviewWithStephenKinzerAndMarthaCardenas Interview with Stephen Kinzer and Martha Cardenas (mp3)] February 10, 2008

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinzer, Stephen}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American historians]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American foreign policy writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents]]
[[Category:Boston University faculty]]
[[Category:Historians of the Central Intelligence Agency]]
[[Category:Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners]]
[[Category:The New York Times journalists]]
[[Category:Northwestern University faculty]]
[[Category:Brown University faculty]]
[[Category:Boston University alumni]]