Category: Foreign Policy
A Dangerous Alignment
PRESIDENT BARACK Obama likes to say that America and the world have progressed beyond the unpleasantness of the nineteenth century and, for that matter, much of the rest of human history. He could not be more wrong. And as a result, he is well on the way to repeating some of history’s most dangerous mistakes. […]
Has The West Gone Soft?
There is none of the passion, none of the moral sense that inspired foreign policy in the time of former British premier Margaret Thatcher and former US president Ronald Reagan. Read Here – Gulf News
Can You Define Realpolitik?
As realpolitik undergoes a renaissance in the English-speaking world, it is surely worth investigating what the word, coined in 1853, was originally supposed to entail. The answer to that question might surprise but will also enlighten. Read Here – The National Interest
Ah, Those Foreign Policy Cliches…
In his compelling essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell links the decline of civilizations to a self-reinforcing relationship between muddy thinking and bad writing. “If thought corrupts language,” he writes, “language can also corrupt thought.” Read Here – National Interest
Lust, Romance and Foreign Policy
the impact of romance on international affairs could never have been more evident than during the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, an episode still hailed as one of the most important diplomatic events in modern history. Read Here – The National Interest
Foreign Policy Going Local
It’s about time that diplomacy adapted to modern times. Information is no longer privy only to embassies. Today, many private intelligence firms, think tanks, and NGOs have better access to quality sources than experienced diplomats do. And the idea that diplomats should exclusively represent their governments in other countries is now obsolete. Read Here – […]
The Death Of An Institution
The departure of Gambia and the fight over the Sri Lankan summit reveal how weak Commonwealth institutions have become. The secretariat is accused of actively dodging any politically sensitive issue, and its reticence to speak out means that the Commonwealth suffers from a very low public profile. A 2009 poll in seven countries showed than […]
Are Embassies Dying?
One of the impacts of the global recession is that it has compelled a number of countries to scale back their diplomatic representation overseas by closing some of their embassies. Faced with the economic and financial realities during economic downturns, governments often have little choice but to cut back on the spending that is involved […]
Weird Borders
Borders are fascinating places. The subtle changes in scenery and atmosphere as you near the limits of one territory and enter the orbit of the other; the way fencing gets higher and fiercer. Then there’s the shuffling of papers and passports, the opening of suitcases, car boots and, sometimes, wallets. Read Here – The Spectator
looking beyond borders 