I write little here about Israel/Palestine as I have little to say which countless others are not saying. Plus I don’t have first-hand professional experience. What is going on? Of course the Palestinians want to advance their claims and demands on all international fronts. Upping their status at the UN […]
Many of my loyal readers know a few things about the Balkans. Relax. That probably does not make you bad people. Here is a gripping analysis of the dreary political paralysis in Bosnia: In theory, Bosnia’s constitution treats Croats as one of the country’s three constituent peoples, entitling them to […]
Or is it Coup des États? Definitely one or the other. Let’s stick with the headline one. My latest Commentator piece is out, belabouring a theme familiar to regular readers here, namely the Limits of Trust: Once upon a time world leaders met only rarely if at all. They maintained […]
Here’s David Murray, editor of Vital Speeches of the Day, giving sharp-eyed observations on the UK Speechwriters’ Guild conference last week: Many of these 67 speechwriters from Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Holland and Denmark told me their speakers wouldn’t go for the kind of intimate, personal, emotional authenticity […]
Last week in the Krynica Economic Forum in deep Poland, a highlight was the exchange between former German President (and former IMF Director) Horst Köhler and Polish Finance Minister Jan Vincent-Rostowski. In essence, Kohler argued that the time had come to stop throwing good money after bad in the Eurozone – […]
Here at Project Syndicate is Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski: Ten years later, it is clear that the fanatics behind those attacks miscalculated in two central respects. They regarded Western democracies as weak – unwilling or unable to respond to their evil extremism. And they expected Muslim communities and countries […]
My latest DIPLOMAT piece is up: The UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has an imposing suite of UK-based and e-learning training courses for British diplomats. Some aim at improving skills (Diversity; One Team, Many Cultures; Communication and Assertiveness; Performance Management; First Aid); others look at thematic policy questions (Advanced […]
Soon after the US-led attack on Saddam Hussein began, the rattled Gaddafi regime sent an urgent message to London asking to meet a top MI6 officer. The rest is now history. This encounter set in train a series of top-level diplomatic manoeuvres leading to Gaddafi/Libya renouncing its weapons of mass destruction. […]
One of the greatest passages in the Bible: Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?""I know not," he replied. "Am I my brother’s keeper?" When – and to what extent – is X responsible for Y? German President Christian Wulff might be expected with his first […]
Here is the later part of my Commentator piece this morning on Libya, featuring some thoughts on chess and politics – and why the usual clever moaners are wrong again: … slowly and surely and with a lot of pain the capacity of the Gaddafi loyalists to hold out was […]
