State Department to Grant Visa to Cuban Dictator Raul Castro’s Daughter
The U.S. State Department has decided to grant a visa to Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of Raul Castro, the country’s President and Premier, neice of… Read More
Russian Roulette at Voice of America
Depending on Russian government-funded media to broadcast news from Voice of America (VOA) is about as brain-dead as depending on Russian spaceships to send American… Read More
Embarrassment in Beijing
On her first visit to China in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Chinese leaders that she considered human rights secondary to other, greater… Read More
Human Rights Activists: Obama Must Stand With Chen Gaungcheng
A top activist for human rights in China warned on Thursday that if the United States wants to maintain its image as a global human… Read More
Most Americans Agree: War on Terrorism Not Yet Won
Last week, experts fired back at the assertion by an unnamed senior State Department official that “The war on terror is over.” Yet, according to… Read More
Is the War on Terror Over? Are Islamists Now ‘Legitimate’?
There’s a bunch of good news coming from one senior official in the State Department. According to this unnamed source, “the war on terror is… Read More
News
U.S. Nods to India’s Closing Missile Gap with China
India’s successful test of the Agni-V, a nuclear-capable long-range missile, is a major step forward for New Delhi in attaining nuclear deterrence against regional rival… Read More
Urgent Challenges for New Public Diplomacy Chief
Rolling up her sleeves should be new Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Tara Sonenshine’s first act in office. For the chief of the U.S. government’s outreach… Read More
House to Hear about Chinese Public Diplomacy
There used to be a saying about the Chinese: “They work while we sleep.” In the field of public diplomacy, it is absolutely spot on…. Read More
House Members Ask Hillary Clinton Not to Promote ‘Fracking’ Propaganda
Thirty-two members of the House of Representatives have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove a factually inaccurate environmentalist documentary from the list of… Read More
OECD’s CSR Guidelines: Corporate State Department Responsibility?
This week the U.S. State Department announced the launch of the Stakeholder Advisory Board for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for… Read More
To Tweet or Not to Tweet: The State Department’s Digital Revolution
The U.S. State Department has jumped into the world of online communication with a vengeance. January 2012 has been designated 21st Century Statecraft month, and… Read More
Obama Administration Knifes Britain in the Back over Falklands
In yet another display of disdain for the Anglo-American Special Relationship, the Obama administration has weighed in on the mounting tensions between Great Britain and… Read More
Timeline: Keystone’s Three Years in Limbo
President Obama announced he was rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline project Wednesday, blaming Republicans in Congress for forcing him to make a decision. The pipeline… Read More
House Committee to Consider Bill to Advance Keystone Pipeline
In the wake of President Obama’s decision to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline on Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a… Read More
Obama Administration Airbrushes Britain out of Europe
Philip H Gordon, US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, has just delivered a speech in Berlin outlining “the state of transatlantic relations”. His remarks,… Read More
Tweeting for Hearts and Minds
January 2012 is the U.S. Department of State’s “21st Century Statecraft Month.” What the State Department has in mind in this case is what former… Read More
“Virtual” Tehran Embassy Not Worth State Department’s Time
President Obama got his hand slapped when he famously stretched it out to the Iranian regime in the early days of his presidency. Now the… Read More
State Department’s Response on CFE Treaty Too Little Too Late
The U.S. State Department recently announced that the United States will cease carrying out certain obligations under the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty… Read More
U.S. Smart Power and Postmodern Art: A Congruent Couple?
In its latest strategic move, billed smART Power, the State Department is sending abroad on Americans’ behalf not more Foreign Service officers but a cadre… Read More
Administration Sends Mixed Messages to Iraq
Last Thursday marked the closing of the 38th Baghdad International Trade Fair, an annual event intended to showcase international corporations to Iraqis and Iraqi corporations… Read More
The State Department’s Turn-the-Other Cheek Policy
Expel U.S. ambassadors from your country, accuse the U.S. of plotting coups and trying to destabilize your country, and cozy up to Iran, and what… Read More
The Audacity of Obama’s Big Book Promo
After President Barack Obama entered the White House in 2009, U.S. embassies around the world apparently felt that foreigners still did not know enough about… Read More
The Decline and Fall of Obama’s Foreign Policy Czars
Whatever became of President Barack Obama’s vaunted foreign policy czars, who were to transform America’s international relations through soft power diplomacy? The answer is nothing… Read More
SecurityNews
Foreign Affairs, Anyone? Department of State Reaches Out to Americans
In its never-ending efforts to be hip, the U.S. State Department last week launched a new Web site called “Discover Diplomacy.” It has video clips,… Read More
CTBT: State Department’s Misleading Fact Sheets
On September 29, the State Department released a fact sheet that unequivocally asserts that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a “zero-yield” treaty. Under… Read More
President Ali Abdullah Saleh Returns to Yemen—Can’t Take a Hint
President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s return to Yemen on Friday after four months in Saudi Arabia has sparked renewed violence after protestors launched demonstrations against the… Read More
News
Sen. Mike Lee Outlines Objections to Law of the Sea Treaty
Ratification of the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) would jeopardize American security, rule of law, and prosperity, Sen. Mike Lee… Read More
Not Even a ‘Fact Sheet’ Changes Facts When It Comes to Nuclear Testing
The State Department’s newly released fact sheet, “The Case for the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty: Some Key Points,” vividly demonstrates flawed assumptions behind the Administration’s desire… Read More
Secretaries of State, Defense Acknowledge Entitlement Spending Crisis
During a joint press event today in Washington, the Secretaries of Defense and State agreed that politicians must tackle the elephant in the room to… Read More
