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November 2020

U.S. embassies have long hosted election watch parties to introduce foreign audiences to the American electoral process. In 2012, embassy guests in Beijing tried out a mock polling station. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. embassies have long hosted election watch parties to introduce foreign audiences to the American electoral process. In 2012, embassy guests in Beijing tried out a mock polling station. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

Commentary

The Middle East Accords: an Israeli Perspective by Ophir Falk

The Middle East Accords: an Arab Perspective by Imad K. Harb

The Middle East Accords: an American Perspective by Edward Marks

Redesigning U.S. Assistance to Africa in the Post-Pandemic Era by Mark Wentling

It’s High Time to Recharge and Empower Public Diplomacy in the State Department by Renee Earle

The Everyday Importance of International Relations: Walk a Mile in Your Own Shoes by Charles Ray

When Diplomacy’s Reputation Needs Tending: Some Advice from the Past by Ken Weisbrode

Without Dallas: John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War by Mark White

 

Eyewitness

It Is Up to the State Department to Reimagine a Better Institution by Tianna Spears

Arms and the Diplomat – and the Red Brigades by Peter Bridges

When “The Bridges of Madison County” Came to Moscow by Gregory Orr

Nixon’s Watergate Scandal and NATO by Bob Baker

Negotiating the U.S.-Romania Consular Convention by Jonathan B. Rickert

ADST

Foreign service reflections on the often heated negotiations at Camp David, the difficulties in reaching a compromise, the race to get an agreement before the deadline, and the trouble with the accords that started coming up almost immediately afterward.

https://adst.org/2013/09/a-gamble-for-peace-negotiating-the-camp-david-accords/

The Madrid Peace Conference, held from October 30 to November 1, 1991, marked the first time that Israeli leaders negotiated face to face with delegations from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and, most importantly, with the Palestinians.

https://adst.org/2015/06/the-road-to-madrid-james-baker-and-the-middle-east-peace-talks/

 

National Archives

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles issued a statement on Women in Foreign Affairs in 1957, likely the first such pronouncement on the contribution of women in the realm of foreign affairs

https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2020/03/10/recognizing-women-in-foreign-affairs-1957/

Links

Carnegie Endowment recommendations for a new foreign policy agenda.

https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/09/23/making-u.s.-foreign-policy-work-better-for-middle-class-pub-82728

An assessment by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy of efforts to counter disinformation.  https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Public-Diplomacy-and-the-New-Old-War-Countering-State-Sponsored-Disinformation.pdf

 

In Memoriam

Paul P. Blackburn’s 40-year foreign service career included assignments in Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, and China with the U.S. Information Agency and the Department of State, detailed in his ADST oral history:

https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Blackburn,%20Paul%20P.toc.pdf