Diplomacy in Crisis
The Cost to America and the World
Statement by the Board of American Diplomacy
In the span of a few weeks, the United States has experienced unprecedented shifts in its foreign policy on topics long considered broadly bipartisan and uncontentious. The United States has broken with its European allies over support for Ukraine, a democratic country invaded by Russia. Free trade with neighboring Canada and Mexico, our two top trading partners, is gone. The U.S. Agency for International Development — set up over 60 years ago to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance and help people recover from humanitarian crises — is also gone, with lethal consequences. Public service, long saluted, is denigrated, and the U.S. Department of State is preparing for dramatic staffing cuts. READ MORE
The American Diplomacy journal has focused its mission on presenting the voices of practitioners: commentaries and stories from people who “have been there.” With this section of the journal, we aim to do the same. What is at stake in the current diplomacy crisis can best be explained by those same voices, which we proudly share here with our readers.
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May 2025
Commentary
Reducing Inequity Globally Will Make America Safer, Stronger, and More Prosperous by Marianne Scott
Netanyahu and the End of the Jewish State by Christopher Datta
Today’s Top National Security Threat? You’re Looking at It by Karl Stoltz
Eyewitness
Encounters with Bulgarian State Security by Jonathan Rickert
Moments in Diplomacy
“Tex” Harris describes his monumental efforts to document the “disappeared” in Argentina in the 1970s.
Documenting Human Rights Abuses in Argentina’s Dirty War
One example, admittedly a dramatic one, about how American diplomats help US citizens in foreign countries.
Links
A timely deep dive into US dependence on China for key raw and processed materials with suggestions for how to lessen that dependence.
A Federal Critical Mineral Processing Initiative Securing US Mineral Independence from China
In the current (April-May) issue of the Foreign Service Journal, Ambassador Ted Osius traces the arc of US-Vietnamese relations from early contacts at the end of World War II through the bitter war of the 1960s-1970s to the current era when, after decades of careful diplomatic work by both countries, cooperation and mutual benefit characterize the relationship.
Vietnam and United States Way Ahead
In the January-February issue of the Foreign Service Journal, Ambassador Thomas Shannon offers a compelling personal vision of how diplomacy must face the challenges of the current era.
From Our Archives
In a time of exceptional stress for our diplomats, we offer a selection of past AD articles that deal with the challenges and options available to them if they disagree with an administration’s policies. In a bit of déjà vu concerning the possibilities of willing bipartisanship with respect to foreign policy, Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 2008 book offers a guide. And finally, two links remind us of what patient consistent diplomacy can accomplish, with Vietnam as an example.
When a Diplomat Disagrees with Policy by Judith Heimann
The Dissent Channel book review by Robert Whitehead
America and the World AD book review by J. Bullington
Reconciling with a Former Enemy Post War Diplomacy Between the US and Vietnam by Justin Ahn