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Afghanistan is Not Our Longest War

October 2017

by David T. Jones There seems to be a new truth that whoever starts a column about Afghanistan, adds the descriptive phrase, “Our longest war.” Or words to that effect. One is not exactly sure why the writers seek to … Continued

The Evolving Terrorism Threat from Nixon to Trump

September 2017

This article is adapted from a draft of a forthcoming book U.S Counterterrorism efforts, from Nixon to Bush. (CPC Press/Taylor&Francis Group). Ambassador (rtd) Edward Marks and Michael B Kraft are also co-authors of U.S. Counterterrorism: A Guide to Who Does … Continued

Presenting Credentials in Tonga

April 2017

by Vance and Julia Hall In 1967, after a four year assignment in Seoul, we returned to Washington for a home tour. I was assigned to the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands desk of the Bureau of East Asian … Continued

Warrior Diplomat: Vietnam, 1965-70

January 2017

Warrior Diplomat: Vietnam, 1965-70 Chapter 3 of Global Adventures on Less-Traveled Roads: A Foreign Service Memoir by James R. Bullington The Vietnam War was a life-changing experience: It set the trajectory of my career toward service in unfamiliar, remote, sometimes … Continued

World War Two Provides the Indo/British Breaking Point

January 2017

Essay by Jon Dorschner “India at War” (The Subcontinent and the Second World War) by Yasmin Khan, Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-975349-9, 416 pp., $29.95 (Hardcover). India’s War (World War II and the Making of Modern … Continued

Why the Peace Corps?

January 2017

by John Coyne On this last day of 2016, I thought I might try and chart the impulses in America that brought about the creation of the Peace Corps–something positive to think about as we wait for 2017–and before all … Continued

How the Presidential Transition Process Works

January 2017

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

Making Peace in Syria: Economic Diplomacy

January 2017

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

Uganda—and triggered observations

March 2016

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

Why Not Try Diplomacy?

February 2016

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

Call Me Nino

January 2016

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