British Foreign Secretary David Milliband spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies yesterday. He is quite an exceptional foreign leader: he is 41 years old and has been in politics for only 10 years, and at very high levels at that. CSIS invited Milliband as part of their “Smart Power” program, which studies new public […]
Here's one last resource related to President Bush's recent trip to the Middle East. Brookings Institution scholar Martin Indyk, a former Ambassador to Israel, speaks with ABC's Martha Raddatz about Bush's attempts at achieving peace in the Middle East. He also addresses, more broadly, the policy options at the next US President's disposal for dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. […]
I thought I’d add to last week's post about President Bush's trip to the Middle East, by pointing out two new analyses. First, the Washington Post's White House correspondent Michael Abramowitz wrote in great detail about the various steps of Bush's mideast trip. Second, the Center for American Progress in their daily “Progress Report” published a thorough […]
Earlier this month the American Foreign Service Association held its annual ceremony honoring the Foreign Servicemen and women who lost their lives in the line of duty. Their names are eched into memorial plaques on the wall near the entrance to the State Depatment. This year sadly saw two more names etched onto the memorial wall: Steven Thomas […]
The forthcoming issue of The Atlantic contains a report on Senator Obama's foreign policy by Matthew Yglesias, the magazine's Associate Editor. The article begins: “Barack Obama has always been an independent thinker. He of course opposed the war in Iraq, and he's built a team of national-security advisers who disproportionately took the same, then-unpopular antiwar […]
Guardian columnist and veteran reporter Jonathan Steele pennedan opinion piece on Wednesday about how Barack Obama, unlike the other Presidential candidates understand the American image problem. Although it was published one day before President Bush's veiled jab at Obama's open approach to conducting diplomacy with enemies, the commentary unintentionally comes to the Senator's defense: “…The Republican nominee John McCain accuses Obama of […]
(AP) President Bush has travelled to Israel to celebrate the nation's 60th anniversary. He met with both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (above, the full text of their remarks can be read here) and the President Shimon Peres. He addressed the Knesset(the Israeli Parliament) and a large conference with celebrity guests Henry Kissinger and Elie Wiesel. Every […]
Zogby International and the University of Maryland's Shibley Telhami conducted a poll last month of 6 Arab publics: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Not surprisingly, the poll reveals negative attitudes toward the US. The pollsters also took this opportunity to gauge these publics’ opinion on the US Presidential election. Reuters reports […]
A consistent theme running throughout this blog has been the Defense Department's slow and steady encroachment on activities traditionally performed by our diplomatic bureau, the State Department. A recent article from the USA Today reveals a new aspect of this phenomenon: “The Pentagon is setting up a global network of foreign-language news websites, including an Arabic […]
The Washington Post's job section ran a story this Sunday on tips for getting a job with the US Foreign Service. The author dispelled a few common myths about the FS. Here is an excerpt: “Myth: The Foreign Service — the nation's diplomatic corps — is made up exclusively of State Department staff. Fact: The biggest branch of […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/tnjKmpIlFn8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Senator Obama has inspired yet two other musical cultivations, both coming from the Caribbean. The Mighty Sparrow, a Caribbean-American of of Grenadian/Trinidadian origin known as the “Calypso King of the World,” composed a song praising Obama. In the song, titled “Barack the Magnificent,” Sparrow sings: "Barack! Barack! He is fighting for openness […]
Lisa Mullins of Public Radio International's “The World” program spoke with Mohamad Manzarpour of the BBC's Persian Service on Iran's move to suspend talks about Iraq's regional security. Toward the end of the conversation Mullins asks Manzarpour about the Iranian public's reaction to Senator Clinton's recent remarks about what she would do as President if Iran […]
This October, Georgetown University Press will publish a new “manual” on the Foreign Service titled Career Diplomacy. Authored by former Foreign Service Officer Harry Kopp and the recently-passed Charles “Tony” Gillespie, a former Ambassador to Colombia and Chile, the book serves as an A to Z guide on the Foreign Service and US diplomacy. Here's some […]
Do the mass media form or reflect public opinion? Specialists in these matters always answer "both," but in this election year it's critical to know which predominates. Take the Rev. Wright "issue." In the seven weeks since March 18th, when ABC-TV unveiled footage of Wright's most notorious quotes, the media have incessantly declaimed on behalf […]
NAFSA: Association of International Educators is a non-profit, professional association of international educators dedicated to promoting international education in America and worldwide. US International education centers around two flows: foreign students travelling to the US to study and experience American life, and American students travelling abroad to study and experience living abroad. Recently, we have […]