Category: diplomacy
Unipolarity
I’ve been avoiding this topic for a long time because it is complicated, but I suppose I need to say something about it. The subject is the end of unipolarity, as reported in Glenn Diesen’s Substack post. Well, the end of unipolarity was really announced by Marco Rubio; Diesen was merely commenting on it. He …
Trump Challenges Assumptions Again
This post concerns an article on the bizarrely named website “Slugger O’Toole,” about Trump’s willingness to recognize Russian control of the Crimea. This lengthy article is a fascinating mixture of insights and misconceptions. To start with the latter, it repeats, of course, the usual pablum about Westphalia and the origins of sovereignty. It also engages …
The Importance of Diplomacy
An article posted two months ago under the title “The Voiceless Diplomats” discusses the value of maintaining communications. Besides a nice (if very brief) overview of the history of diplomatic relations, the article makes the important point that maintaining communications, even with unfriendly states, is important. America’s refusal to engage with Russia opens us up …
The Power of Small States
I almost stopped reading “The power of small and smart states” at the first sentence: “The publication of my book, The Small States Club: How Small Smart States Can Save the World, has provoked a much-needed discussion on small states.” Are you really going to plug your own book by claiming it has started a conversation, …