February 2024
Commentary
The Christmas Gift That Keeps Giving by Jack F. Matlock, Jr.
Russian Propaganda Efforts: Historical Continuities Accompany Technological Changes by John Katzka
Soviet vs. Post-Soviet Russian Disinformation by Todd Leventhal
CPR for the Turkish Economy: The 2001 Financial Crisis and its Aftermath by W. Robert Pearson
Advice from an Old School Diplomat to the Chat/GPT Generation by Polonius
Eyewitness
Ambassadorial Accreditation: The Romanian Ambassador Presents His Credentials in Washington by Jonathan Rickert
From Our Archives
We are highlighting in this issue’s Archives section two articles we have published on Henry Kissinger, a statesman of extraordinary influence whose legacy will be debated for years to come.
Book Review by Fletcher Burton of “Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography,” Feb. 2021.
The Quest for Peace: Henry A. Kissinger on Germany by Mirco Reimer, Feb. 2014.
ADST Moments in Diplomatic History
A then-junior officer’s personal account of the first months after Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, as embassy personnel gradually became convinced that a productive relationship with the new regime would not be possible.
https://adst.org/2013/12/castros-cuba-the-early-days/
Phil Wilcox’ recollections of the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987 and the US policy response.
https://adst.org/2014/07/broken-bones-broken-dreams-broken-homeland-the-first-intifada-1987/
Links
Fareed Zakaria shares some of the critiques of US policy made by Jack Matlock in this issue, but overall offers a more conventional view of the US as playing a positive and necessary role in world affairs.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/self-doubting-superpower-america-fareed-zakaria
This is a controversial, broad-level critique of decades of US foreign policy from an Indian international affairs commentator.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/interventionism%E2%80%99s-moral-narrative-has-crumbled-208482
Those who read the John Katzka and Todd Leventhal articles in this issue comparing Soviet and Russian propaganda/disinformation practices may be interested in the January 18 State Department announcement below of a new program to address foreign information manipulation.
Https://www.voanews.com/a/us-launches-effort-to-combat-information-manipulation/7445580.html