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21. The Cardinal Sins of Diplomatic Political Analysis

Author:
Raymond A. Smith
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
Dr. Smith’s 2011 book, The Craft of Political Analysis for Diplomats offered suggestions for doing political analysis better, from the viewpoint of a foreign service officer who had spent most of his diplomatic career practicing the craft. In this follow-on piece, Smith expands on his original discussion with thoughts on the cardinal sins of political analysis.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Political Analysis
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

22. Spike Lee Brings Back Vietnam Memories of Race and the Bond in Combat

Author:
Kenneth M. Quinn
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
As the country is convulsed by the simultaneous nationwide Black Lives Matter protests over racism and the devastation of more than 150,000 Coronavirus deaths, I sought escape in Spike Lee’s latest offering on Netflix— “Da 5 Bloods,” a story of four African American army veterans returning to Vietnam 50 years after their wartime service. They are drawn back together to return to their former battlefield to search for the remains of their Black comrade—the fifth Blood—who died in combat but whose body was not recovered.
Topic:
Race, Media, Film, History, and Vietnam War
Political Geography:
Vietnam and United States of America

23. The U.S. Government Was Not Adequately Prepared for Coronavirus at Home or Abroad

Author:
Jimmy Kolker
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
: After retiring from the Foreign Service in 2007, Ambassador Kolker spent four years at UNICEF before moving to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs there, he dealt with a number of international health concerns, including Ebola, Zika, and HIV/AIDS. This piece is adapted from his Virtual Presentation to an online DACOR audience on April 8, 2020. While the Coronavirus outbreak and pandemic found nearly all countries unprepared, U.S. lapses in addressing major documented flaws in our preparedness contributed to breakdowns of international collaboration and solidarity as well as institutional conflicts and stress on our health system at home.
Topic:
Government, International Cooperation, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

24. It Is Up to the State Department to Reimagine a Better Institution

Author:
Tianna Spears
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
My name is Tianna Spears. Many may recognize me as the Black diplomat who ultimately fled the State Department after being harassed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials while crossing the border into the country where I was born. At the age of 26, I was diagnosed with debilitating mental health conditions and left traumatized. But I am not my trauma— I am a friend, sister, daughter. A person. I am now 28 years old. This year has been bittersweet for me. My grief, disappointment, rage, and sadness are not just personal, but as a Black woman in America, I’ve grappled with the question of how do I grieve a personal loss that is also systemic?
Topic:
Diplomacy, Government, Race, Reform, and Memoir
Political Geography:
United States of America

25. Arms and the Diplomat—and the Red Brigades

Author:
Peter Bridges
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
In 1981 I was assigned to our Rome embassy as the deputy to the ambassador, Maxwell Rabb. The Red Brigade terrorists had been active in Italy for some years. They had been responsible for perhaps thousands of violent actions and had killed many people, most notably former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978. One day before I left Washington, my colleague Gary Matthews said “You are going to carry a weapon in Rome, I assume.” “Why, no. I don’t have one and I don’t plan to buy one.” “Go down to the Department armory and they’ll fix you up.”
Topic:
Diplomacy, Weapons, and Memoir
Political Geography:
Europe, Italy, North America, and United States of America

26. When “The Bridges of Madison County” Came to Moscow

Author:
Gregory Orr
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
Of all the cultural tools used by the United States Information Agency (USIA) to promote public diplomacy, film had a prominent role. For nearly half a century, the film division at USIA produced, distributed, and sponsored films throughout the world. It is estimated that the USIA archive included nearly 18,000 films distributed to over 150 nations in dozens of languages. They ranged widely in style (documentary, newsreel, animation, educational, and even fiction) and subject matter (social issues, biography, history, the arts, the environment, daily life in America, and sports.)
Topic:
Diplomacy, Media, Film, Soft Power, and Memoir
Political Geography:
United States of America

27. Nixon’s Watergate Scandal and NATO

Author:
Bob Baker
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
In a November 1973 nationally televised press conference, President Richard Nixon denied his involvement in the Watergate cover-up and declared “I am not a crook.” In the U.K., where I was working in the U.S. embassy, British television showed the scene repeatedly as part of its daily coverage of the Watergate break-in scandal. As an assistant cultural affairs officer in the London embassy, part of my job was to improve the U.S. image and British understanding of our policies. I did not agree with all of our policies, but focused my work on the best in U.S. policy and culture. That included keeping British support for NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, our main alliance in the cold war with the Soviet Union. For months, President Nixon twisted on television every day as investigations led toward him. He wanted to avoid blame for his role in the burglary at Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. His almost daily interviews on television had eroded British trust in the United States. How could Brits trust the U.S. as a strategic partner in NATO if the President was a crook?
Topic:
NATO, Diplomacy, Memoir, and Richard Nixon
Political Geography:
Europe and United States of America

28. Negotiating the U.S.-Romania Consular Convention

Author:
Jonathan B. Rickert
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
One of the traditional tasks of diplomacy is the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral agreements. Although many diplomats may spend an entire career without ever engaging in such activity, I am pleased that I had the chance to do so.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, and Memoir
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, Romania, North America, and United States of America

29. The Impolite American Consul: A Memoir of the 1966 Buddhist Struggle Movement in Hué

Author:
J. R. Bullington
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
My first overseas post as a newly-minted Foreign Service Officer was the American Consulate at Hué. I arrived in July, 1965, just as the massive deployment of U.S. combat units was getting underway. Emerging from a redneck hillbilly background in Tennessee and Alabama, and devoid of any international experience, I could not imagine the challenging, life-shaping adventure on which I was about to embark. This is my Foreign Service war story/love story/coming-of-professional-age story, as well as a participant’s account of a significant but largely unknown episode in the history of the Vietnam War. In 1965, the Vietnam War had not yet come to dominate American politics as it did by 1967. Nonetheless, it was very much in the news, and I was happy to be going to an exciting job in an exotic country that was emerging as a major focus of American foreign policy. Moreover, I had been unable to achieve my childhood dream of a military career because of a teenage bout with polio that left me with a slightly crippled leg, so I was pleased to have this opportunity to serve my country in a war. I was 24, and more than a little naïve.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Memoir, Vietnam War, and Buddhism
Political Geography:
Vietnam, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States of America

30. President Bush’s 2005 Mongolia Visit

Author:
Pamela J. Slutz and Brian L. Goldbeck
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
President George W. Bush’s November 2005 visit to Mongolia marked an important milestone in U.S.-Mongolia relations. When the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1987 after many years of Cold War frostiness, Mongolia was a communist country closely allied to the Soviet Union.Bush’s visit, the first by a sitting U.S. president, re-affirmed Mongolia’s transformation from communism to democracy and a free market economy.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Public Policy, and Memoir
Political Geography:
Mongolia, Asia, North America, and United States of America