diplomacy

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• 10/9/2022
  

  What the Cuban Missile Crisis Teaches Us about Ending the Ukraine War

  by Walter G. Moss

  Many people have invoked JFK's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a reminder of the need for toughness in international confrontation. The equally vital but less popular lesson is that creative leadership is just as important. 

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• 9/4/2022
  

  Is it Deja Vu All Over Again with "Appeasing Dictators," or Time for A New Lens?

  by Charles Spicer

  Invoking Chamberlain and appeasement is never a particularly useful response to an international crisis. Do the efforts, albeit unsuccessful, of a small group of British diplomatic outsiders to "civilize" leading Nazis, point in a better direction? 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  6/1/2022
  

  Shirley Temple Black's Second Act as a Diplomat

  An unpublished memoir of her late life, recently released to the Smithsonian, shows how Shirley Temple Black worked to thwart pervasive sexism in the diplomatic arena while advocating for a global environmental awareness.

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  5/25/2022
  

  Biden's Remarks on Taiwan are Potentially Dangerous Provocation to China

  by Stephen Wertheim

  In itself, Biden's statement about defending Taiwan doesn't raise any possibilities that the Chinese military hasn't already considered. But it does threaten the American posture of "strategic ambiguity" that underlies diplomatic discussions. 

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• 4/24/2022
  

  Why I Can't Wave a Ukrainian Flag – A Dissenting Teach-In on Russia's Invasion

  by Daniel Herman

  "If Americans who fly Ukrainian flags actually want to help Ukrainians, they would be well advised to support diplomatic negotiations rather than limitless flows of weaponry."

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  4/19/2022
  

  Moving Beyond Sanctions to End the War in Ukraine

  by Alfred McCoy

  "While the world waits for the other combat boot to drop hard, it’s already worth considering where the West went wrong in its efforts to end this war, while exploring whether anything potentially effective is still available to slow the carnage."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  4/18/2022
  

  Is International Cooperation Possible?

  by Tiziana Stella and Campbell Craig

  The United Nations system, based on the sovereignty of nations, is increasingly inadequate to the global problems facing humanity. There are other international traditions that can guide a better world order. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  4/4/2022
  

  In Ukraine, the US Likely to Follow Kissinger's Example and Disappoint Idealists

  by Jeffrey Fields

  "From tacit support of the murderous dictator Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War to Washington’s close relationship with brutal human rights abuser Saudi Arabia, the U.S. frequently chooses to put its own interest ahead of its professed values."

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  3/28/2022
  

  Madeleine Albright Had Warned the World about Putin

  Madeleine Albright's path to being Secretary of State began with her experiences fleeing Prague twice – to escape both Nazism and Stalinism. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/20/2022
  

  There are No Chamberlains Here

  by Anne Applebaum

  80 years after the infamous Munich meetings, NATO leaders are united in opposition to Russian aggression, but Ukraine leaders wonder what more must happen before triggering a decisive response. 

• 
• 2/20/2022
  

  Martin Indyk Writes the Palestinians Out of the History of Kissinger's Middle East Diplomacy

  by James R. Stocker

  Martin Indyk’s new work offers a vivid portrait of the former Secretary of State’s Arab-Israeli diplomacy, but he completely misses one of the most important parts of this policy – the Palestinians.

• 
• 2/13/2022
  

  A Tale of Two Olympics: Changed China in a Changed World

  by Joe Renouard

  Since the 2008 Beijing games, the People's Republic of China's vastly increased global economic power and the COVID pandemic have changed the core narrative around the current winter games. It remains to be seen whether the Olympics will signal a turn back to openness or the intransigence of a confident world power. 

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• SOURCE: Forward
  12/3/2021
  

  The US Must Not Repeat the Error of Allowing at Totalitarian Regime to Use the Olympics for PR

  by Rafael Medoff

  Despite the famed victories of sprinter Jesse Owens, the 1936 Olympics were a victory for Hitler, polishing his regime's image as concerns rose about the persecution of Jews. Amid Chinese persecution of Uyghurs, the US should reconsider participation.

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  11/29/2021
  

  Isaac Chotiner Interviews Martin Indyk about Henry Kissinger

  Does Martin Indyk's new book on Henry Kissinger, who is a personal friend, have enough critical distance between subject and author, asks interviewer Isaac Chotiner.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/13/2021
  

  Review: The Schemes and Ambitions of Joseph P. Kennedy

  by Alexis Coe

  A new book locates the origin of the "Kennedy Curse" in the ruthless ambition and ego of patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy. 

• 
• 9/12/2021
  

  The Missed Lesson of Vietnam: Plan for Unconditional Victory or Don't Intervene at All

  by James D. Robenalt

  Comparisons between American withdrawal from Vietnam and Afghanistan miss a key point: failure was overwhelmingly likely from the beginning because, if the United States was unwilling or unable to secure unconditional surrender, time was on the side of its foes. 

• 
• 7/4/2021
  

  Could Wilson have Ended the Great War Two Years Earlier? Zelikow's "Road Less Traveled" Reviewed

  by James Thornton Harris

  Philip Zelikow's book is a provocative and contrarian argument that Woodrow Wilson missed a chance to end the first world war in 1916. 

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• SOURCE: Keeping Democracy Alive
  5/10/2021
  

  Peace Was on the Floor in 1916-17, but Wilson Failed to Pick it Up

  by Burt Cohen

  Burt Cohen discusses Philip Zelikow's book which argues that diplomatic failures by the great powers extended the first world war by two years and contributed to the catastrophes of fascism and Stalinism. 

• 
• SOURCE: Salon
  5/8/2021
  

  What "Politics" Does to History: The Saga of Henry Kissinger and George Shultz's Right-Hand Man

  by Jim Sleeper

  A recent Yale memorial to the diplomat Morton Charles Hill largely glossed over Hill's and Yale's roles in crafting an imperialist American foreign policy and in educating generations of diplomats to subordinate honesty to "grand strategy." 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  4/20/2021
  

  The Long History of Members of Congress Talking Directly with U.S. Adversaries

  by Richard A. Moss and Sergey Radchenko

  New documents demonstrate that Senator Ted Kennedy had back-channel contact with the Brezhnev regime in the 1970s, which aimed both at resolving sticky diplomatic issues and at elevating Kennedy above Democratic party rivals. It's unclear if Kennedy was acting with or undercutting American intelligence agencies.