There are two aspects of the theory of just war, jus ad bellum, or the justice of any given war, and jus in bello, referring to just conduct in the waging of war. There may be an overlooked analogy for American diplomacy. In the late 1990s I heard a Brazilian ambassador address an American lunch […]
President Trump’s pronouncements always generate froth, by his words and in the reporting and recrimination that follows. But in Brussels, before his Helsinki meeting with Putin, he did, again, call NATO obsolete. Once any President raises it, the question takes on a life of its own. And if NATO’s value is in doubt, who should be […]
Americans have long had a disdainful attitude toward diplomacy and diplomats, seeing the whole endeavor as something elitist, foreign, expensive, and possibly deceitful.
Kennan’s is considered the architect of the Cold War strategy. Today’s diplomats are still expected to provide the kind of expert advice that helps set the policy course for the nation.
Ever since 9/11, counterterrorism has permeated U.S. foreign policy. Throughout the world, American embassies have turned into fortresses, though diplomacy does not function in seclusion.
Diplomacy today is changing, especially with regard to technology and the availability of instant communication. Imagine how the Cuban Missile Crisis might have unfolded differently in our time.
The language of war could swell volumes with what would at once be the most depressing and coldly technical glossaries of chaos ever scribed. The intersection of political calculation and unrelenting violence is formed by an endless stream of words. Open-air condemnations and closed-door strategizing. Shouts and whispers, threats and rumors. Uncapped fury and profound […]
If you would like to work for the State Department, you can now consider going to cooking school and then joining the American Chef Corps, launched on Friday. According to the Washington Post, …more than 80 chefs are being inducted into the first American Chef Corps. These food experts could help the State Department prepare […]
This week, I discuss the U.S. domestic reaction to the Chen Guangcheng case. In this post, I also have the pleasure of featuring guest analysis by Atlantic fellow Helen Gao, an emerging voice on U.S.-China relations (see Gao’s story archive here). Last week, I wrote about new polling on Americans’ foreign policy views; next week, […]
The U.S. operation that led to the killing of Al-Qadea leader Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad earlier this week has stirred a hornet’s nest. While details of the operation continue to pour in each day, the sentiment that “Pakistan has some explaining to do” is gaining force. Pakistan’s Ambassador to U.S. Husain Haqqani, has appeared […]