Today the latest edition of DIPLOMAT magazine arrived. I opened it to find an article written by me which I could not remember writing(!). So I read it with much enjoyment and appreciation. Check it out. It describes my attempts as an argumentative young diplomat to persuade the Embassy in […]
Sigh. Another thoughtful and intelligent website to read: Big Questions Online. Try this one by Susan Jacoby: When my friend saw one of her favorite young Afghan-American women — a high school senior — weeping in the dining room, she asked what was wrong. “Oh, madam professor,” the girl replied, […]
Christopher Myers, the newly appointed ‘Special Adviser’ to Foreign Secretary William Hague, has resigned amidst a gush of crass innuendo from Guido and others re a possible homosexual relationship between Hague and Myers. Willaim Hague’s statement on the issue has dignity and barely concealed anger – one of the most remarkable (and […]
Over at Business and Politics I peer at the BBC through a powerful microscope. Droll opening paragraph, or at least I thought so.
Finally! The ‘feedback’ compilation arrives from a course I ran a few months ago for EU colleagues in Brussels on the general theme of Ethical Dilemmas in Diplomacy. Everyone is dutifully tasked to complete these forms at the end of a course. A bundle of these forms show trends. Were the […]
Back from Warsaw this afternoon to find myself at 12th place on the 2010 Total Politics UK Libertarian Blog list. Up from 17th place last year, and just below the Adam Smith Institute. Wo! Big Libertarian climber this year is Anna Raccoon, jumping from from 13th place to 6th. Here […]
Part of next week will be spent giving some Speechwriting Training. One of the things I have been taught on my Mediation training is the technique of ‘reflecting back’. In other words, a good mediator (so it is said) is not one who shows ‘neutrality’ by being aloof and detached from […]
Off go sundry Crawfs to Poland for a few days, myself mainly working. Not much posted here this month. Am I running out of steam for this blogging business? Or is it just grey, muggy, flat August malaise time? Sigh. Quickies to keep you amused for a few days while […]
President Obama has pronounced on the Cordoba Center (aka Ground Zero Mosque) controversy.Speaking to a Ramadan gathering he said this: Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities -– particularly New York. Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of […]
The BBC lovingly analyses Fidel Castro’s speech to the ‘National Assembly’ in Havana: … a hush descended … He smiled and waved to the crowd as he lapped up the warmth of their applause … a short but polished performance from the lively and healthy-looking Fidel Castro, his voice stronger […]
