Chekov at Three Thousand Versts generously takes up my posting on the psychology of Russia’s foreign policy, and responds: In addition, we can agree that insensitivity to Russia’s concerns, from Nato and other western structures, caused Russian disillusionment which effects ‘cooperation’ to this day. Nato’s support for Albanian separatists in […]
A reader writes: I have been hoping for your comment on the recent move by EULEX concerning the border between Kosovo and Serbia which seems to have equally upset both sides. I think he means this: The EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo and Serbia have signed the policing protocol, despite strong opposition from […]
Last year I wrote some pieces about How to Negotiate. These and other pieces with an implicit or explicit Negotiation theme are linked here. Such as this one: It does not follow that being bloody-minded or even threatening force actually works. So much depends on context, the objective balance of […]
Mark Steyn’s claim to be a one-man global content provider is justified not only by the verve of his gloomy analyses of society, but also by his magnificent knowledge of the popular music business (gained in part from his earlier time as a hospital DJ and then theatre critic). Does […]
There one is, pushing one’s little godson round the back streets of Lewes, amazed at his genius as he points things out along the way. And then, suddenly, he has grown up and his first full-length film is launched. Rob Cannan and Corinna Villari-McFarlane have produced an impressive debut movie, […]
Some good comments from readers on my (too) long piece about the US Missile Defence decision. Two take a different view, arguing that Putin’s Russian government is not motivated by crude nationalism, and that if one stacks up various decisions taken in recent years by the USA/West it is not […]
I mentioned a while back my latest article in DIPLOMAT magaizine about Ethnicity and Foreign Policy, with some general analysis of what is or is not a state under international law: DIPLOMATIC HOBGOBLINS AND BALKAN OMELETTES: WHERE DIPLOMACY MEETS ETHNICITY Here it is if you want to read the full […]
Picking up the theme of the previous posting, I might add that after the St Albans School prize giving this week a smart young pupil asked me for a couple of lessons learned from my diplomatic career. Gulp. Where to start? I offered only this one. Back in Belgrade in 1981/82 […]
Here (h/t Skeptical Bureaucrat) is an interesting report about apparent self-censorship among US diplomats going back some years: One diplomat told The Washington Times that he has decided to resign in part because of frustration with "rampant self-censorship" by Foreign Service officers and their superiors that has gone so far […]
A lively piece in the Guardian by Bonnie Greer about the all-pervasiveness of Racism. She lays into one and all, but especially her fellow leftists: I cringed during the campaign at the drooling of male broadcasters over the candidate’s physique; the "cool black guy" envy many of them subliminally expressed […]
