by Allen Keiswetter I knew Vietnam would be my first tour when I joined the US Foreign Service fifty years ago this coming June at age 23.  I served there for 18 months (April 1968 to October 1969) as part … Continued

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

by Abdallah Al Dardari Aleppo is a landmark in the Syrian conflict and has become the strongest signal of the failure of the western approach to diplomacy and other means of influence to end the conflict. This failure calls for … Continued

From the National Archives: Report on Hazards of the American Foreign Service, 1942 by David A. Langbart The image of the Foreign Service Officer (FSOs) as a “cookie pusher” who enjoys a cushy existence overseas is persistent. This was certainly … Continued

by Mark White  I was gratified to learn that my 2007 article on Robert Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis has been among the most widely read essays published in the American Diplomacy e-journal. I would like to introduce the … Continued

by Jason Cooley Introduction Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, the United States government embarked on a campaign to weaken the Islamic extremist organizations that were present in the world. Some of the steps that this lone superpower took to … Continued

by Chas W. Freeman

Too Quick on the Draw: Militarism and the Malpractice of Diplomacy in America by Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. ( ret.) Remarks to the the Academy of Philosophy and Letters 13 June 2015 The late Arthur Goldberg, who served on … Continued

by Robert Baker Rajat Neogy declared himself referee and demanded a formal exchange of insults contest between Paul Theroux and me. It was the fag end of a very Scotch evening in Rajat’s cluttered, dusty living room up in the … Continued

by Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Remarks to the University Continuing Education Association March 28, 2008, New Orleans, Louisiana I want to speak to you this afternoon about diplomacy as an element of statecraft. By now most Americans … Continued

by Bob Baker Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia came to address a national convention of Australian lawyers. I had requested a top constitutional lawyer and was delighted when Washington headquarters at the U.S. Information Agency in 1986 told me Justice … Continued

by Zhang Xiaomao Historical events are always astonishingly similar. In the early Korean War, China ruled by the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) frequently publicly warned the U.S. not to go beyond the 38th  parallel north to invade North Korea or China … Continued

by Bob Baker After assignments in London and Germany, I became the Consulate’s public affairs officer in Sydney, Australia. The left wing of the ruling Australian Labor Party wanted to show its displeasure with the Reagan re-armament program, especially its … Continued

by Mirco Reimer “In the 1990s, we thought we had the magic formula for everything. We were rich and invincible, and even Germany was expected to do what we wanted” – Stephen M. Walt, professor at Harvard University, on the … Continued

by Paul Levine In March David Shambaugh published an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal under the headline, “The Coming Chinese Crackup.” “The endgame of communist rule in China has begun,” the article continued, “and Xi Jinping’s ruthless measures … Continued

by Donald M. Bishop America’s career diplomats—the Foreign Service—are assured when they deal with thorny political, economic, trade, and development issues. During my own Foreign Service career, however, I found them uncomfortable speaking of religion. Like it or not, I … Continued

by Matthew KooAbstract The international community has welcomed the reforms implemented by President Thein Sein of Myanmar since 2011. Even so, with the authoritarian nature of the Myanmar government remaining fundamentally unchanged, these reforms are arguably more procedural than substantive. … Continued

by Bob Baker I got more and more lonely as I drove North before dawn from my tiny motel to avoid the blazing desert heat. I was half way between Cairns in Northern Queensland and Darwin, capital of The Northern … Continued

by Benjamin L. Landis It is apparent without further explanation that the world of Islam from the shores of the Atlantic to the extremities of the Indian Ocean is today in tumult. The causes for these chaotic conditions are rooted … Continued

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