A reader and fan of the Holy Roman Empire writes: Before you write another article on European history you ought to read Peter H.Wilson’s book on the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Only then will people understand German and also European history. Europe most likely would or could […]
Here is my piece on UK/EU/Brexit that’s just gone up over at Huffington Post: … our decisions today are part of bigger trends, even if in all the noise it’s hard to spot them. Here are three. First, the European Union is like every other attempted pan-European project of the […]
So, my foray to Cambridge for that Cambridge Union UK/EU debate ended (as I expected) in a huge win for the Remain tendency, ably led by Lord Ashdown. He concluded the debate for the Remain side with a rousing speech that seamlessly combined sound points (“The only world leader who will […]
Back in 2009 I wrote two hefty pieces here about ICTY and its role in bringing to justice Balkans war crimes suspects. This one, on the occasion of the viewing of a film Storm: I said that in this sense the film had done a good job, bringing out a […]
Over at Kurir in Serbia a few days they kindly ran an interview with me about current ex-Yugoslav goings-on. Here’s the original (Serbian). And Here’s the full transcript in English as I sent it to them. Note that the opening questions are getting to the assertion that the UK-sponsored UNSC resolution on […]
The firing-squad execution of two Australian citizens (and others) by the Indonesian authorities following their conviction on drags smuggling charges has caused official dismay and anger in Australia. And Australia has responded by recalling (withdrawing?) its Ambassador. Here is an account of some differing views on how far this makes […]
Presentation by HE Mr Charles Crawford CMG Belgrade, July 2003 When I joined the Foreign Office in 1979 my first ‘hard language’ was Serbo-Croat. This was a shock. I had to find out where Yugoslavia was. I arrived here as Press Officer in January 1981. The Embassy was agitated. […]
ADDRESS BY HE MR CHARLES CRAWFORD CONGRESS OF BOSNIAC INTELLECTUALS, 18 APRIL 1998 Introductory courtesies In the UK we have no “intellectuals”. We don’t like clever people who use long words. But in Continental Europe things are very different. Someone can call himself an intellectual without fear of being thrown out […]
Who are you? A very ‘British’ (part Yorkshire, part Scottish, part Irish) person of modest but honest family origins who failed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Fast Stream exams at the first attempt but succeeded three years later. I rose through the ranks to senior diplomatic positions in post-communist Europe. Why […]
Charles Crawford retired from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the end of 2007 after nearly three decades in the UK’s Diplomatic Service, most of it spent serving in or dealing with communist and post-communist Europe After he completed a law degree at Oxford University and was called to the English […]
