Ben Rogers writes a lengthy piece over at Conservative Home urging an energetic approach by the new UK government on international human rights: The Commission has also recommended the appointment of an Ambassador-at-Large for International Human Rights, who would work with the Minister of State to co-ordinate the efforts of […]
Remember much praised FCO blogger Philip Barclay, who achieved some distinction in writing about Zimbabwe when he was posted there despite the inevitable constraints of working in the UK mission? He’s written a book about Zimbabwe, which maybe gets closer to the heart of what was happening there (and how […]
Craig Murray rumbles in Tashkent: There is much consternation at the apparent decline of Gulnara Karimova’s multi-billion dollar company, Zeromax – which owns Uzbekistan’s most valuable economic assets … Gulnara is of course the daughter and favoured successor of dictator "President" Islam Karimov. And we all recall what an appalling piece of […]
Some US Senators are asking some terse questions about Venezuela’s active anti-American policies: The State Department currently designates four nations — Syria, Cuba, Sudan, and Iran — as state sponsors of terrorism. These countries provide ideological support and material assistance to terrorist groups. Once you consider the evidence behind Venezuela’s substantial ties […]
Austin Bay mulls over the (as usual) limited options facing South Korea in responding to North Korea’s role in sinking a South Korean ship and killing 46 sailors. This seems a good scheme: Explicit naval tit-for-tat, which exposes and exploits North Korean strategic weakness before a global audience, has more political […]
Derek Tonkin is a distinguished former Ambassador (of an older generation than me) who follows closely the situation in Burma. He was brought up in a Foreign Office which prided itself on impeccable standards and good manners. Hence his sensible and courteous letter to David Miliband in March about Burma, […]
David Cameron ready to veto treaty to shore up euro So says the Indy headline this evening. Hmm. What does the article say? Mrs Merkel has suggested that all European countries need to be willing to surrender more sovereignty to give the EU powers to prevent another Greek-style eurozone crisis. […]
Still, the actual training in Den Haag on Writing with Impact went well, with lots of praise from the participants for my dynamic, eye-opening presentation on good diplomatic writing technique: Witty, clear, practical Lively, entertaining, convincing Funny, memorable, practical Great. I particularly liked the humorous presenting. A lot of information, […]
A handy To-Do list for William Hague as he tries to drain the FCO swamp: … End PoMo gimmicks: Issue instructions that any Ambassador using an Embassy flagpole to fly a gay rights Rainbow flag, a Save the Whale flag or any other trendy private ‘campaign’ symbol will be sacked […]
Here is my long interview (in English) with George Matlock over at Radio Orla, a successful London-based radio station with a strong Polish angle. I normally can’t bear to watch or listen to myself after doing such media slots. But I started to listen to this one – I found it […]
