Former UK ambassador Craig Murray too has a sharp new website look. He goes from strength to strength despite some sad family news, and credit is definitely due: We seem to be hitting peak Craig Murray. Before the hiatus of the last month or so, 40,000 people were regularly reading […]
Watch Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refuse to say whether he would abide by one of the UK’s (and one the world’s) key treaty relationships, namely the North Atlantic Treaty that created NATO: The generally understood key idea of the North Atlantic Treaty is that ‘an attack on one is an […]
The UK’s Labour leadership between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith contest threw up this interesting exchange. Should involve anyone from so-called Islamic State be involved in Middle East peace negotiations? Yes? Or no? A classic ‘closed question’ that leaves almost no room for waffling. Or so you might think. But look carefully […]
Remember the magnificent ambassador scene from 300. Superb on so many instructive levels simultaneously: First, it’s a masterclass in bad diplomatic negotiation technique by the arrogant ambassador of King Xerxes, who makes scarcely veiled threats in demanding just a small ‘token of submission’ instead of patiently exploring King Leonidas’ interests and […]
A passing BBC journalist called me to ask for some quotes on why President Obama and his wife Michelle are such great public speakers. A lively discussion ensued on what in fact makes someone a ‘great public speaker’. Are the Obamas excellent speakers who too often give poor speeches? She […]
Here’s my Telegraph piece on the NATO summit in Warsaw. Thus: Poland’s President Duda wonders what President Obama will say to him privately about Poland’s constitutional wranglings. President Obama has his mind on yet more ghastly shootings back home. France’s President Hollande eyes his horrible polling numbers and wonders whether […]
The Chilcot Report saga prompts me into reposting a speech I gave in Germany in 2004 about Iraq, diplomacy and pretty much everything. Here it is in full. Looking back on it now I conclude that it’s too long, repetitive/involved and lacks ‘Structure’. Not clear what two or three key […]
So. Farewell then, Tony Blair’s reputation. The monumental Chilcot Report on the UK’s role in the Iraq invasion is out. Here it is. Several gazillion pages. No-one can or will read it all. But it will remain a vast trove of material for anyone interested in Diplomatic Technique and how […]
I plan to write lots of things here on how the Brexit situation casts light on Negotiation Theory and Practice. I won’t be alone. The problems and opportunities created by the UK’s Brexit vote will give negotiation pundits material for decades, maybe centuries. Let’s start with some very big picture […]
Once upon a time when I was UK ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I was invited to Pale to give a live TV interview to Republika Srpska TV. After I refused to do the interview in a room featuring a picture of war crimes indictee Radovan Karadžić and we went […]
