It’s no secret that representing the U.S. abroad entails both risks and rewards. Ambassadors though are rarely in the news and rightly so- they are sent to represent their country, not make a name for themselves. I’m sure most people would be hard-pressed to name any ambassadors. If they are in the news it usually […]
As you may know by now, the leadership of the Palestinian Authority have decided to seek a vote on statehood at the United Nations later this month. President Obama asked them not to pursue this path and they refused. Now, normally I like to consider weighty matters of international affairs by referencing analysis by think […]
There was a lot of talk at this week’s CNN Tea Party Debate about creating jobs but not a lot about increasing global competitiveness. I thought about that when I read this report about the U.S. losing a lock on the #1 position in the world computer market. As the LA Times reports: China passed the […]
I’ve been reviewing some of the 9/11 commentaries and news reports that are saturating our media as the anniversary approaches and I have to admit that many of them leave me feeling cold. This commentary by Frank Rich in the New York Magazine, for example, raises many interesting and provocative points that I found myself […]
I had just returned to the States from a relatively innocuous tour in The Bahamas as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. The most personally significant event during my time in Nassau was meeting and marrying my Romanian-born wife. My onward assignment was to Moscow, Russia with a year of intensive Russian-language training […]
As this last day of the month unfolds I think we can be forgiven for being a bit distracted as a country. An earthquake hit the East Coast, and while not unprecedented, it was certainly jarring for many people. And then Hurricane Irene battered and drenched the coast with millions of people still feeling the […]
It is often said that peacekeeping is a growth industry. However, this should never preclude the United Nations from finding a better way to do business. Since 1948, the UN has established 64 peacekeeping operations with undoubtedly more planned for the future, as nation-states such as Sudan convulse in and out of civil war. Currently, […]
In physics a quantum state is indeterminate until observed. This is known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and well illustrated by the famous “Schrödinger’s Cat” example in which the cat is both dead and alive at the same time. It’s very rare to find examples of such non-intuitive “both at the same time” situations in […]
As the civil war in Libya dominates news headlines this week, the State Department reminds us that U.S. efforts to fight famine in the Horn of Africa continue even as the media focus has shifted away. How is the U.S. responding to the famine crisis? Secretary Clinton explained the U.S. response in remarks to the […]
We seem to have entered into a new era of the U.S. role in the world in which we take it upon ourselves to determine which world leaders are fit to serve and invite those unworthy to step down from power. We did this recently with our formerly good friend Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and […]
While the world’s focus was turned on America’s debt fiasco, over the past few weeks the sun has begun to shine from behind the clouds that have hovered over the Korean peninsula for the last year. On July 29, Special Representative for North Korean Policy, Stephen W. Bosworth, briefed the press on the conclusion of […]
President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base today to honor the 22 Navy SEALs, three Air Force personnel, and five-member Army air crew killed in the attack on the Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this past weekend. As the LA Times reports: Obama led a delegation of administration and military officials to salute the remains […]
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