Monday's State of the Union Address was heavy on the economy and ideological posturing. However, foreign policy issues were addressed, and this blog would like to touch upon what was said. Stepping back and taking a macro-viewpoint of the speech, Bush did not provide new policy initiatives, which we had wondered about on this blog […]
Over at the Election 2008 blog, Mark Dillen discusses Madeleine Albright's book "Memo to the Next President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership." His post also contains a good soundbite from Albright in which she clarifies a common misunderstanding about diplomatic efforts: "Diplomacy is not appeasement. You can deliver tough messages as […]
A 2006 assessment of the State Department's Public Diplomacy (PD) program conducted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB, a Cabinet-level office run out the White House) ranks the program's overall performance "adequate," (as opposed to "effective, moderately effective, or ineffective"). The more abbreviated "assessment summary" can be found here. The State Department describes […]
Soft balancing against the United States is on the rise and the next President will face a myriad of challenges in asserting American influence, so argues Parag Khanna. His article in the New York Time Magazine this week encapsulates a vast swath of recent history and developments in geopolitics, particularly across the second world. In […]
US President George W. Bush famously characterized a nation's position on the war on terror either “with us or against us.” But happens when those who are "with us" are not necessarily "against" those who are "against us?" Such is the case in Pakistan, where with the help of some polling and John Stewart, we […]
Jay Lefkowitz, the US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights, spoke at AEI last week of a renewed debate within the administration over its restrained diplomacy track with North Korea. Indeed, he offered three concrete steps for future engagement: “1. We should now shift our focus from a short to a longer time frame. […]
On Friday the State Department announced that Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, will be retiring from the number 3 post in the Department. Burns said he was leaving because it is “time for me to meet my obligations to my wife and three daughters, and it's time to pursue other ventures outside the government.” Click below to watch […]
Here's the bad news. The Washington Post reports that the State Department will be cutting 10 percent of diplomatic posts next year. Veteran diplomatic correspondent Karen DeYoung reports: "Nearly one-quarter of all diplomatic posts are vacant after hundreds of Foreign Service officers were sent to embassies in Baghdad and Kabul, and Congress has not provided […]
On Tuesday, an American Embassy vehicle was the target of a bombing in Beirut. The explosion left two US Embassy officials with light injures. An American citizen, not affiliated with the US Embassy, was also injured. At least three people died and more than twenty were wounded. The attack was the first on American interests […]
President Bush recently nominated a new Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy, to replace the outgoing Karen Hughes. His pick, James Glassman, is currently chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, the government agency that oversees U.S. international broadcasters, and a a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank. […]
President Bush continued his Middle East trip in Saudi Arabia where he spoke of "unity" in order to reify his containment strategy against Iran: "Mr. Bush focused not only on what the United States believes are Iran's nuclear ambitions but also its suspected support for Islamic militants in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian […]
Tzipi Livni, negotiating on behalf the Israeli government, and Ahmed Qurie, negotiating on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, began talks on core issues today. It's fair to acknowledge the both sides are nowhere near agreement on any of the major issues. However, keep in mind the slow, yet significant progress made on lesser issues in […]
The United States faces numerous challenges abroad looking ahead into 2008. On the diplomatic front few loom larger then Israeli-Palestinian relations. In December, the Annapolis Conference opened the door for direct negotiations, with the United States and the international community urging for progress on the sidelines. President Bush landed in Israel earlier this week in […]
