February 2021
Celebrating and Commemorating by W. Robert Pearson
Commentary
Can Sisyphus Win? Reforming Diplomacy for New Challenges by June Carter Perry
Can the U.S. Still Be an Example to the World? by Renee M. Earle
How Do We Talk to Foreign Audiences After Trump’s Subversion? by Ken Moskowitz
Cold War Conflicts over a Khmer Temple by John Burgess
–Five Perspectives on the United Nations and Multilateral Tradecraft–
Promoting Peace and Prosperity Through the United Nations by Thomas R. Pickering
Multilateralism and the Superpower by Jeremy Greenstock
Making Change Happen Within the United Nations by Catherine Bertini
“Reformed Multilateralism” at the United Nations by Asoke Mukerji
Multilateral Training and Work at Foreign Ministries by Kishan S. Rana
Eyewitness
Mongolia Emerges by Peter Bridges
A Light in the Window in Communist Times by Jonathan Rickert
ConOff’s Suspicions Are Aroused by Michael Mates
VOA—a Biased, Sentimental Recollection by Philip Brown
National Archives
Vietnam Negotiations, 1968: The Problem of Leaks
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2019/02/26/vietnam-negotiations-1968-the-problem-of-leaks/
ADST
Working with the United Nations — negotiating the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Part 1: The lead-up to the first round of negotiations.
Part 2: “The Whole World Was Against Us”
Part 3: Moving to the Endgame
Book Reviews
Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography by Thomas A Schwartz, reviewed by Fletcher Burton
Books of Interest
Links
Belfer Center | Recommendations by the American Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School to reform the State Department. https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/DiplomaticService.pdf
AAD | American Academy of Diplomacy proposals to foster a climate of inclusion, increase accountability and transform the U.S. diplomatic service to a more competitive service truly representing the nation.
https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Press-Release-on-State-DI.pdf
CFR | Council on Foreign Relations proposals for revitalizing the State Department and American diplomacy.
https://cdn.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/csr89_final.pdf
AFSA | Recommendations by the Association of Black American Ambassadors to address barriers to diversity and inclusion in the foreign affairs agencies.
http://www.afsa.org/diversity-and-inclusion-us-foreign-service-recommendations-action
Picks from 25 Years
To mark our 25th anniversary, we spotlight past articles about diplomats, diplomatic practice, and challenges facing the State Department
In Memoriam