PM David Cameron made an important statement to Parliament about the latest EU Summit. Full text here (written it must be said in commendably clear language). Though you’d never guess from our snow-infested news bulletins, this was a really important gathering from which, by the usual standards of such gatherings, […]
I have mentioned before the superb John Mauldin free economic newsletters. Sign up, if only to read his latest masterpiece which praises the European Central bank for trying to stop the European Union falling into a very deep abyss. What’s so good about John’s work is that it combines professional […]
Dick Holbrooke’s sudden death is a blow to American diplomacy. His cleverness, his relentlessness, his raw humour, his skilled psychological pressure-plays and sheer bravura all combined with a sense of boldly wielding power to make him a uniquely formidable force. I have written about my own meetings with on various occasions. See […]
Here in Brussels the already expensive hotel charges an absurd €6+ for an hour’s Internet access, and some €5 for 24 hours’ access. I wonder how these clever hotel chains price Internet access. It’s all about price elasticity of demand – if we add on (or take off) a few more […]
This is astonishing. President Obama has a Christmas Party with his wife to attend, so leaves a White House press conference to former president Bill Clinton who turns on the impromptu policy charm. With video. Imagine Gordon Brown: Look folks, I have to go to a Christmas Party with my […]
A brisk bucketful of ice-cold reality for the European Union, generously delivered by Barry Eichengreen of UC Berkeley: The economics is really quite simple. Greece has a budget problem. Ireland has a banking problem. Portugal has a private-debt problem. Spain has a combination of all three. But, while the specifics differ, […]
The real truth of the whole Wikileaks saga is that it shows US diplomats en masse doing first-class professional diplomatic work. (Update: Rupert Cornwall agrees). Getting out of the Embassy and meeting people, analysing all sorts of information, reporting it all back to HQ in good businesslike prose, often with sharp insights […]
As England groans under snow and howling icy gales, I am heading for Mauritius. On a training expedition for a UN organisation. ADRg Ambassadors have been asked to give their senior officials some expert training in Diplomatic Skills (Making an Impact) and Negotiation (Reaching the Deal). What are so-called diplomatic […]
Back from giving further diplomatic mediation skills training in Brussels to EU officials. Unlike the FCO, the EU’s nascent foreign policy machine dimly sees the point of understanding how to get better outcomes by using smart mediation techniques. So, I duly help deliver the superb training they need. In the margins I […]
You heard it at TEDxKrakow first. Now even top EU people are saying it: 16 November 2010 Last updated at 11:38 Eurozone facing ‘survival crisis’ The European Union is in a "survival crisis" over eurozone debt problems, the EU Council president has warned. Speaking hours before eurozone ministers meet to […]
