The Bidens are serving the Macrons US-made wine and cheese. A cute gesture or a clumsy diplomatic move?
Say “cheese”!
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diplomacy
Do Liberals Believe in Diplomacy or Not?
When I first started teaching introduction to international relations, I included a lecture on the use of force in my foreign policy unit. We talked about Art's four uses of force, Schelling's...
Oh Say Can You Say
You never know when IR is going to bite you in the ass. One minute you are reading a children’s nursery rhyme and the other you realize that the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Ms....
Area Political Scientist Armed Only with Words Thwarts Robbery
THE CANARD"All the fake news that's fit to print."--South BostonPhotograph by Matt GratiasArea political scientist Joseph Nye of Harvard University emerged Sunday as a hero, thwarting an attempted...
More diplomacy Posts
The Undiscovered Country
Toward the end of the Cold War, Georgi Arbatov, the top America analyst in the Soviet Union, told his American interlocutors that the USSR was doing a terrible thing to the US, it was depriving it of its enemy. In a letter to the NY Times in 1987, he wrote:And here we have a ''secret weapon'' that will work almost regardless of the American response - we would deprive America of The Enemy. And how would you justify without it the military expenditures that bleed the American economy white, a policy that draws America into dangerous adventures overseas and drives wedges between the United...
This Just In: Somali Pirates Are Definitely Human
No sooner did I blog about the growing security threat posed by maritime piracy than several powerful militaries took notice... not because I was particularly persuasive, but because a Ukranian freighter loaded down with $30 million worth of tanks, grenade launchers and other military equipment was captured by marauders off the coast of Somalia.Two dozen crew members are still hostage aboard the MV Faina, now anchored off the Somali coast, while the pirates repeatedly isuse a series of ransom demands - though it's not obvious to me to whom. (Also, their demands have fallen, like the global...
Iran, the IAEA and the US
Once again, I was recently contacted by an Iranian journalist for Fars News Agency.Kia Kojouri asked 2 questions, which I have slightly reworded:1. While IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says that there is no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons, the US and Frence are claiming that Iran seeks nuclear weapons. They have not presented any documentation for their claims. What do you think about that?2. The IAEA declares that outstanding issues between Iran and the IAEA will be solved during the next few weeks. What's your assessment about that?This is my reply: 1. El Baradei says that...
Blame to go around
Today's IHT has possibly one of the most idiotic commentaries about US-Russian relations that I've read in a long time. In this column, [sorry, it's behind the pay wall] John Vinocur essentially places all the blame for the current deterioration in US-Russian relations squarely on Russia's shoulders.He writes:Does anybody out there remember Dick Cheney's harangue in Lithuania last year, the growlingly bellicose one that the Russians regard as heralding a new Cold War?Here's how that dreadful man, who is 800 percent responsible for the Russians suspending the treaty on Conventional Forces in...
Out.
After months of threats, Russia announced this morning that it is officially suspending its obligations under the Cold War-era Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. From a military point of view, this probably isn't all that significant: I haven't seen any one making a serious claim that the Russian Army has the genuine capacity to present a conventional threat NATO and the US.From a diplomatic point of view, though, it represents a new low in the relationship between the US and Russia. Although you wouldn't know it from the NY Times story, this decision seems to have been precipitated...
Speedboat diplomacy
Update below the fold.After months of diplomatic sniping between the US and Russia, Presidents Vladimir Putin and George Bush are meeting today at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush has generally invited foreign leaders to his own ranch in Texas, rather than to the Maine compound, which belongs to his father. I have yet to read a compelling explanation as to why he chose Maine over Texas other than the more pleasant summertime weather, but that's never stopped him in the past.There really isn't a whole lot to say about this visit, at least so far. Both the American and...
Its About Time
Last Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill made a sudden and surprise visit to North Korea to talk directly with the North Korean government about their nuclear program.All I can say is-- its about (_______) time. And, it shows the power of good, pragmatic diplomacy.From 2001 through 2004, the Bush Administration held a very tough line toward North Korea--axis of evil, no direct talks, CVID, etc. This tough line was very popular with the Administration's base conservative philosophy about getting tough with the evil dictators around the world and not negotiating with...
Gerald Ford, 1913 – 2006
Former President Gerald Ford died yesterday.I'm sure that there will be much discussion of Ford's legacy as the only non-elected President in US history, following the resignation of Nixon, and the implications of his pardon of Nixon, perhaps the defining moment of his presidency. As he was only in office briefly, serving out the remainder of Nixon's second term, Ford is not generally credited with many major foreign policy initiatives or successes. He inherited Nixon's agenda, team, and issues, but spent much of his presidency focused on domestic and economic issues. Nevertheless, Ford did...