This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the United States. The relationship between the two countries is both strategic and warm, and it has come a long way since the early 1950s.
United States-Vatican diplomatic relations have matured to a high point of cordiality since inaugurated 25 years ago. The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States in April 2008 was in many ways a stunning success. President Bush made an unprecedented trip to the airport to welcome him upon arrival. The following day over 10,000 Americans crowded the White House grounds and greeted the Pope enthusiastically.
Today, people throughout the world are experiencing the most severe set of global crises since the United Nations was formed over 60 years ago. They include financial, economic and environmental crises as well as crises of scarcity—of food, fuel and water.
Topic:
Climate Change, United Nations, and Financial Crisis
General Stanley McChrystal has said that without additional forces America will experience “Mission Failure” in Afghanistan. There is a growing fear within both the American political right and left that General McChrystal's request for additional troop increases in Afghanistan will start us on the road to another Vietnam. Shockingly, no one, not even the President, has yet to call for some form of comparable commitments from our allies. Ironically, it was the European members of the Alliance which took the initiative to invoke Article 5 after the 9/11 attacks, signaling that the attack was an attack against them all. Thus, Europeans were willing to make Afghanistan NATO's war. During the initial phase of the “War on Terror,” the United States mistakenly believed it did not need allies and made little effort to involve NATO in its operations until overextension in Iraq forced the United States to seek allies when it set up the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Terrorist attacks on European cities have also made it clear that Europe has just as much at stake in Afghanistan.
On June 30, 2009, Iraq reached an important milestone in its recovery with the withdrawal of American forces from Iraqi cities and towns. This first crucial step was stipulated within the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed between the United States and Iraq last November, which outlines the future of military engagement between the United States and Iraq together with the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA), which outlines non-military forms of engagement. The transfer of security responsibility to Iraqi forces is an important step in normalizing relations between the United States and Iraq and in restoring Iraqi sovereignty. It is part of a process that began many months ago and will continue for many months—and even years—to come. It is the process of stabilizing and reconstituting Iraq as a free and secure country at peace with itself and the outside world.
I made my first visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, in April 2002 as a private citizen, representing The Korea Society, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea. On that occasion Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan asked me three questions. They were: “Why is George W. Bush so different from his father?” “How do you function effectively as a country when you elect presidents who have nothing in common with their predecessors?” “Why don't you understand us better?”
Speaking to Russian students at the New Economic School graduation during his visit to Moscow in July, President of the United States, Barack Obama, succinctly expressed the greatest challenge facing us: the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the United States. Over the course of these three decades, the relationship has had its ups and downs. However, owing to our joint efforts, steady progress has been made and remarkable achievements have been noted.
The United States has a long history of enduring relationships with the Pacific islands dating from the early days of Yankee whalers to our alliances in World War II, until today, when we are seeking ways to implement a comprehensive and renewed engagement in the region.
One of the most dramatic and best publicized examples of citizen diplomacy in action was celebrated in August—the 50th anniversary of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's visit to the Garst family farm in Coon Rapids, Iowa. The meeting of these unlikely friends was the result of what Roswell Garst called “full belly diplomacy.” He believed that people with a standard of living they wanted to protect would be less likely to go to war. Therefore, the United States had a vested interest in the success of Soviet agriculture. When Garst met a delegation of Soviet officials in Iowa touring farms in 1955, he realized that techniques he had developed on his 2,600-acre farm could improve productivity on large Soviet collective farms. When he applied for an export license for seed corn and agricultural equipment, he was met with skepticism by government officials who warned him he would not receive a warm welcome behind the Iron Curtain.