Here is another DIPLOMAT piece, this time on ‘transitions’ from communism in Europe: Back in the mid-1980s I was the Foreign Office speechwriter working for Sir Geoffrey Howe. Exciting times. Mikhail Gorbachev was leading the Soviet Union in what looked like a strongly positive new direction. In Poland the Solidarity […]
You are probably wondering what is my finest piece of writing about diplomatic life. I ask myself that question. The answer is here. A description for DIPLOMAT magazine of the astonishing sub-culture of Diplomatic Barnacles, those primitive life-forms that cling tenaciously to the local Diplomatic Corps and can never be […]
Ukraine is a complex place. Large country. Poised politically, culturally and psychologically between ‘Europe’ and ‘Russia’. Here is a piece by Democratist who thinks that all is not well: President Yanukovich is in the process of creating a highly personalized style of government. According to our sources, all revenue streams have […]
Why did Boris Tadic lose and Tomislav Nikolic win? This piece sums it up (as written from the point of view of frustrated Serb liberals): This indeed is the main factor that made Tomislav Nikoli
Know any dishonest journalists? They need no longer listlessly wander to and fro, feeling that their lies have gone unrewarded. Succour and recognition are at hand, over in the USA at least.
You no doubt are wondering what has been happening to my articles for DIPLOMAT. The answer is that their website has been having some issues, so I am behind at linking to them. But here is my latest, a timely little number on Intelligent Euroscepticism: Broadly speaking, the idea of […]
Over at the Guardian in the Business section the penny drops: The idea that the European leaders who have been like rabbits in the headlight for the past two years can mastermind a clean break for Greece is utterly fanciful. The crisis will be messy, painful, prolonged and probably terminal. […]
In a result unexpected by me at least (I am not following Serbia’s goings-on too closely these days, and the polls suggested that Tadic would win again) Tomislav Nikolic as leader of the Serbian Progressive Party has won Serbia’s Presidential Elections today by a clear nose, ousting former President Boris […]
More strange things going on in the USA about President Obama’s origins and identity. As you know, all sorts of crazed Republicans ran the claim that Obama was not qualified to be US President as he had not been born in the USA, whereas (as any fule kno) he was […]
Here is a YouTube conversation between me and Jennifer Hardie (CEO of Pinnacle Dubai) in which I discuss in general terms the Negotiation Skills course I completed with Pinnacle last week. The general idea is that you should see this magnificent training for what it is (namely magnificent) and sign […]
