A sharp-edged piece by James Rogers at European Geostrategy on what Cathy Ashton’s recent Budapest speech tell us about the EU’s vision of itself, or not: "The strength of the EU lies, paradoxically, in its inability to throw its weight around. Its influence flows from the fact that it is […]
What is the argument about Libya and sanctions ‘really’ all about? It’s a Negotiation, as a shrewd and well-placed reader has written in to say: I was interested in your recent comment about Libyan Sanctions, which hits the nail on the head. Plus you can be sure that the tighter […]
Back in January Venetia van Kuffeler and I interviewed William Hague for DIPLOMAT magazine. Here’s the result. DIPLOMAT’s publishing lead-times mean that it is not a ‘news’ magazine. So we aimed at more general questions exploring the Foreign Secretary’s philosophy and instincts in his job. The interview took place when Tunisia was […]
Remember the resounding spanking the Serbian legal authorities received in a London court over their attempt to extradite former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic to Belgrade on war crimes charges? Now they are trying their luck in the Austrian courts. Former Yugoslav army general Jovan Divjak has been arrested in Austria on […]
Utterly unbelievable! I just can’t believe it! I’ve won the 2011 Doomed Dictator Speech Twitter Challenge! With pithy little numbers like this: We will kill on the roads and in the fields. We’d kill in the hedgerows if we had any. We’ll never surrender. Until we run away To run, […]
Max Atkinson has been inviting readers to submit draft speeches for Doomed Dictators. Here are the seven entries, with three distinguished judges having to work out who wins. Of course it all depends quite how doomed the dictator thinks he (and it is usually a ‘he’) thinks he is. If […]
Here is Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski yesterday in Washington: Events in the Middle East show that we are fast entering a new phase in the spread of democracy, or at least a new pluralism. People living under dictatorships are finding out who they are. They are realising that the […]
We haven’t heard from Mark Steyn for a while. But he’s back. And firing on all cylinders (emphasis added): Last year, The Times of London reported: The President of Greece warned last night that his country stood on the brink of the abyss after three people were killed when an […]
Dominique Moisi is a clever and agreeable French intellectual. I met him once over lunch. Here he is, bewailing what he sees as the professional limitations of diplomats who fail to see convulsions coming: In the name of “realism,” diplomats and foreign-policy strategists are naturally conservative. Indeed, it is no […]
My eyes popped out on their little stalks this morning when I saw this one: Don’t blame Tony Blair for talking to a tyrant If Blair’s phone calls to Gaddafi mean even one less life is lost in Libya they will have been worthwhile What? Whaaaat? The evil Precautionary Principle, […]
