Here is my piece over at PunditWire and Commentator describing a draft leaked keynote speech by Vladimir Putin in which he makes a decisive break with Soviet-era iconography and paranoia in favour of basic decency: Traditionally we have taken the Great Patriotic War as starting in June 1941 when Hitler […]
The firing-squad execution of two Australian citizens (and others) by the Indonesian authorities following their conviction on drags smuggling charges has caused official dismay and anger in Australia. And Australia has responded by recalling (withdrawing?) its Ambassador. Here is an account of some differing views on how far this makes […]
This one is interesting. Just when we thought that nothing else in the wider Balkan region could astonish us, up pops a brand new country. No, not Kosovo. Not Vojvodina. Not even Eastern Republika Srpska. Liberland! The basic ingenious idea is that, as luck has it, there is a tiny patch […]
Some people have concluded that my thoughts on the Sturgeon Memo as previously posted were amiss – see the Comments. Am I accusing key people of lying? No. This first: “It seems to me the overwhelming probability is that this document, whether it purports to be a FCO or Scottish […]
Shock! Conspiracy! An official British memo has leaked to the Daily Telegraph giving the uncontroversial opinion that ‘Ed Miliband is not PM material’. The author of this memo is not yet a matter of public record, although no doubt the FOI requests are flooding in, and will be answered after […]
A lovely English cartoon summing up the X Y Z Affair, a famous row between the new United States and revolutionary France. Basically, the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand demanded a big fat private bung as a condition for serious bilateral negotiations. And, of course, the principled Americans turned him down flat. […]
I have emerged from my various Public Speaking sessions with different United Nations colleagues, Only to be plunged into a new venture: an online course on Diplomatic Protocol and Etiquette. Today’s principles of diplomatic protocol including the idea of diplomatic immunity itself trace back over 2000 years. The core principle […]
This afternoon I finished my first online course for the United Nations on the general theme of drafting talking-points and speechwriting. Running any course through successive webinars poses interesting new challenges. Above all, how to get the participants to do something useful between sessions and during the sessions. In this […]
So, in the past two weeks I have spent a week in chilly Kazakhstan (Astana) where the road-signs are rather difficult to fathom. Does this mean that public drinking while ten-pin bowling and carrying a primitive smartphone is banned? If it isn’t, it should be. In Astana I gave two […]
Off to Budapest tomorrow for a debate at the Danube Institute: Do Russia’s Ukraine policies threaten European stability? You might think that that falls into the QTWTAIY category fairly easily. That’s the side I’m arguing, ably assisted by James Sherr. But two hardy souls will be opposing this proposition. Vlad Sobell, […]
