As Russian tanks move deeper into Georgia in defiance of the ceasefire agreement The New York Times’ On This Day section reminds us that it was on this day in 1961 that Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city's eastern and western sectors. The original report from The New […]
Let me take a moment to recommend two resources for background information on the Georgia crisis. Professor Stefan Wolff, the Director of the Center for International Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution at the University of Nottingham, offers this timely backgrounder on the Georgia – Russia crisis, as well as optimism for an eventual resolution to […]
New York Times veteran columnist Nicholas Kristof weighed in this weekend on what he calls a “cancer in American foreign policy.” He lists the symptoms: “1) The United States has more musicians in its military bands than it has diplomats. 2) This year alone, the United States Army will add about 7,000 soldiers to its […]
As Russian and Georgian forces continue to fight each other far beyond the confines of South Ossetia the diplomatic action has moved to the U.N. Security Council (Voice of America – US, Russia Trade Accusations at Security Council Over Georgia ): At the rare Sunday session of the council, called jointly by the United […]
This post will conclude this blog's three-part discussion of Senator Obama's trip overseas. Rather than look at the foreign reaction, let's consider what effect the trip had here at home. Here's what the Senator said he took away from his travels upon arriving back to the US: “One of the key insights that I come […]
As the Olympics begin today all eyes are on China. This is really China's big coming out party, their “we have arrived” moment. China has already arrived though, in military and economic terms China has been a great power for some time now, pop culture is merely catching up to the reality. The rise […]
It's not too late to dig into some summer reading. If you have a hankering to read something intellectually dense, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) can help. At the request of the Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs, has put together a “Foreign Affairs Professional Reading List.“ The list aims “to serve as a […]
This is the second installment of an overview of global reactions to Senator Obama's recent travels abroad. In this post I’ll gather some commentary about the European leg of the Senator trip. First, Peter Schmitz of the German news magazine Der Spiegel describes literally the play-by-play of the Senator's arrival in Berlin and his now […]
How should Americans act upon arriving in Beijing for the Olympic games? Should they be like members of the U.S. cycling team (Reuters – U.S. cyclists fly into China with face masks): Some members of the U.S. cycling squad arrived for the Olympic Games on Tuesday wearing black respiratory masks, apparently concerned over reports […]
As I previously noted, the State Department is making a commendable effort to use new social networking services to reach out to the public and build support for U.S. foreign policy. The State Department now has a blog and is making use of the Twitter and Facebook social networks. In this report in The New […]
The American Academy of Diplomacy, in partnership with the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) held a panel discussion back in April at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs in Minneapolis to discuss “diplomatic engagement with non-governmental organizations and civil society to promote effective democratic governance.” The event's featured […]
President Bush has departed for Asia on a trip that will allow him to visit American allies en route to the Olympics in China. Although I alway assumed that President Bush would attend the opening ceremonies, I was not surprised that there were early calls for Bush to boycott the event. The U.S. relationship with […]
New to the blogroll is one of my favorite internet resources, The Atlantic Community. Here's what they have to say about themselves: Atlantic-community.org is a project conducted by the Atlantische Initiative, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Berlin. The Atlantische Initiative was founded in 2004 in order to promote transatlantic cooperation and strengthen Germany's foreign […]
As you all well know, Senator Obama traveled to the Middle East and Europe in July as part of his Presidential campaign. His tour may not have given him much of a bump in the polls at home, but what did his host publics think about his visits to their respective countries? Here are some highlights from the […]