Tag: Americas
Introduction from Peace Works: America’s Unifying Role in a Turbulent World
by Rick Barton
To the Secretary: Leaked Cables and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect
Review by Renee M. Earle
To the Secretary: Leaked Cables and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect. ISBN 978-0-393-24658-2. W.W. Norton & Company. Mary Thompson-Jones
Venezuela: A Situation Report
by Patrick Duddy Venezuela remains in crisis. Popular support for the so-called Bolivarian revolution and its socio-economic model known as twenty-first century socialism has eroded dramatically. Polling suggests there is a near consensus among Venezuelans that conditions are bad and … Continued
The General & the Ambassador A Conversation
Our aim is to have Americans see how important it is that the United States be present on the global stage. We hope the series encourages people to join public service to represent our great nation abroad in … Continued
An Atlantic Council Roadmap for State Department Reform
by Rachel Ansley Reprinted with permission from The Atlantic Council. http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/state-department-reform-report A new Atlantic Council report (www.atlanticcouncil.org/ publications/reports/ state-department-reform-report) seeks to enhance the US State Department’s effectiveness recommends, among other things, a more results-oriented budget and streamlined foreign aid. A key recommendation is … Continued
Authoritarian Backlash: A Comparison of Turkey & Venezuela
by Ambassador (ret.) Robert Pearson The Character of Democracy “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This famous opening line from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is important also for democracies. While Turkey and … Continued
American Foreign Service Building Enduring Support for the Foreign Service
AFSA President’s Views by Barbara Stephenson Reprinted with permission from American Foreign Service Association. http://www.afsa.org/building-enduring-support-foreign-service As I begin my second term as AFSA president, having been elected on a platform of continuing the work begun two years ago by the … Continued
Why Diplomacy
Why Diplomacy American Academy of Diplomacy by Ronald E. Neumann http://www.peoriamagazines.com/ibi/2017/jun/why-diplomacy Permission to reprint courtesy of Ms. Kristin McHugh, Executive Director and It’s essential to the successful pursuit of national security, foreign policy and economic goals. Why should Americans pay … Continued
Confusing Signals: The Impact on U.S. Diplomats’ Mission to Effectively Implement U.S. Foreign Policy
by Amb. (ret.) William A. Rugh There is an unwritten code of conduct among American diplomats that says they should never say anything that is untrue or inaccurate. They are not required to say everything they know because they must … Continued
Nuggets of Wisdom
Review by Brenda Brown Schoonover A Review of Saved for a Purpose: A Journey from Private Virtues to Public Values, By James A. Joseph. (Duke University Press, 235 pages ) The author, James A. Joseph defines his book,Saved for a Purpose: A Journey from Private Virtues … Continued
Tom Countryman’s Farewell
Tom Countryman’s Farewell, Department of State, January 31, 2017 Thank You! When I entered the State Department, I never intended to rise high enough to merit a retirement ceremony. And when it occurred to me that I had, I pictured … Continued
Cuban Missiles and Operation Dragon Rouge
by Robert Baker The 1962 Cuban missile crisis and 1964’s Belgian paratroop drop from U.S. C-130s in the Congo were the most interesting events in my five year intelligence career. Lowly intelligence analysts like me working for the U.S. Information … Continued
Let’s Not Get Distracted by “Shiny Objects,” President Trump’s “America First” Foreign Policy is Out of Sync with the Problems of the 21st Century
by Dr. John R. Murnane The 2016 election of President Donald J. Trump has certainly heightened public interest in national politics, sparking debate about American values, social justice, and the role of the United States in world affairs. Arguments have … Continued
Reimagining Great Power Relations: Reimagining the International Environment: Part 1
Reimagining Great Power Relations Reimagining the International Environment: Part 1 by Amb. Chas W. Freeman, Jr., (USFS, Ret.) Senior Fellow, the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University 9 March 2017, Providence, Rhode Island “With appreciation for the … Continued
How the Presidential Transition Process Works
And Why This One Will Be Like No Other by Michael W. Cotter The sub-title is not quite accurate, since each administration transfer happens a bit differently. But not this different. At least in living memory there has not been … Continued
In Defense of The “Obama Doctrine”
In Defense of The “Obama Doctrine”: A Sober Reappraisal of the Limits of American Power by John R. Murnane In a series of interviews with Jefferey Goldberg in the April 2016 Atlantic, President Barack Obama provided a much-needed and sober … Continued
SITREP: What We Talk About When We Talk About Brazil
by Dick VirdenBrazil: An introduction to your Olympic host Brazil has been much in the news these days, and not in a good way. It’s the epicenter of the horrific Zika plague, its economy is reeling, corruption is out of … Continued
Back Channel to Cuba
Review by Joe B. Johnson Back Channel to Cuba by William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, The University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, NC, ISBN-13: 978-1469617633, 2014, 544 pp., $19.24 (Kindle), $25.82 (Hardcover). The highest-level official meeting of American … Continued
Preserving the Rebalance to the Asia-Pacific Region
By Thomas Donilon, Council on Foreign Relations Fellow Text: http://www.cfr.org/china/keynote-address-obama-china-preserving-rebalance/p33778 Review by Francis P. Sempa, Contributing Editor Thomas Donilon of the Council on Foreign Relations spoke recently at the Brookings Institution about the Obama Administration’s rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region. … Continued