Thoughts by me from 2010 that are no longer up on the Internet. They read quite well now. Are ‘capitalism’ and free choices inherently moral or immoral? That debate drones on. We now are forced to distinguish between ‘justice’ and ‘social justice’, where the latter is said to trump the […]
Over at Kurir in Serbia a few days they kindly ran an interview with me about current ex-Yugoslav goings-on. Here’s the original (Serbian). And Here’s the full transcript in English as I sent it to them. Note that the opening questions are getting to the assertion that the UK-sponsored UNSC resolution on […]
The Greece referendum is generating all sorts of fascinating writing about Life and Diplomacy. The issues are deliciously complicated. Where to direct most derision? So many fat targets to choose from. Feckless Greek socialists? Mean German technocrats? Clueless top EU bullies? The bloated pretensions of More Europe? Technical blunders in […]
Back again. Here’s my latest Commentator piece, on the Greek referendum: Greece has long been seen as a disaster waiting to happen, and that disaster is now happening. Greece for far too long (a) has spent beyond its means, but worse (b) has not invested borrowed money wisely, and worst […]
So here I am, whirring away to devise a new one-day module on Diplomatic Crisis Management. Imagine my surprise to see that Buckingham University got there first, with a full module on this very subject: Module outline The nature of Conflicts and Crises Non-Diplomatic Tools of Conflict Resolution: Arbitration; Humanitarian […]
Over at Diplomatic Courier in Washington is a new edition looking at various aspects of global food issues. Including my piece on Food and Diplomacy: Where better to start pondering the global politics of food than in China, some 2500 years ago? The adviser to Duke Wen of Wei noted […]
In case you have been missing me, I have been on the road. First at this year’s Dubrovnik Diplomatic Forum in Croatia. Then back at IAEA (in Vienna) on Leadership Skills. Dubrovnik is of course splendid, if not quite as affordable as it used to be. As for the Forum, the event […]
Remember that fleeting row about the leaked record of conversation between SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and the French Ambassador that amused the UK general election campaign for at least ten minutes? First it wasn’t even a memo at all – it was a fiendish ZINOVIEV MEMO INVENTED BY MI5 aimed at […]
Here is a piece I have written for the Gatestone Institute on the basic message that we need to be sending Islamist extremists in general and ISIS/ISIL (or whatever their latest acronym is) in particular: Anything can be analysed indefinitely. Policy papers, strategy documents, roadmaps, risk management assessments, spreadsheets of […]
My piece on the withdrawing by Australia of its ambassador to Indonesia following the execution in Indonesia of two Australian citizens described this move in rather uncharitable terms: The real problem with withdrawing an ambassador ‘in protest’ is that it actually is a gesture of weakness, of faux toughness You […]
