Tag: Diplomacy
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#33: Munich Security Conference
“Rechts!” barked the man sitting in the backseat with me, craning his neck to look out the rear window. Upon hearing this, our driver firmly tugged the steering wheel with a smooth confidence that could only come from highly specialized government training. The vehicle lurched into the lane to our right and the engine revved…
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#32: Ivy League Pizza
“How many world leaders do you think are just completely out of their mind?”“A pretty sizeable percent.”-President Obama answering a question from Jerry Seinfeld during an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Royals, political leaders, and even some diplomats routinely get placed onto a pedestal making them appear larger-than-life. Indeed, members of such distinction…
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#30: Operation Santa Claus
U.S. government employees who are experts in economics, politics, defense, agriculture, trade, security, technology, public relations, environmental issues, and other topics are dispersed in nearly 300 locales across the globe. But diplomacy is not a unilateral concept. In fact, it doesn’t work at all without reciprocity. This is precisely why there are a few thousand…
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#29: APEC Leaders’ Summit
“San Francisco is a lot of things. It’s hippies, hipsters, vagrants, flagrants, artsy, fartsy, and more. You name it, and it probably lives here.” – The Bold Italic Magazine In 1989, the growing independence and importance of the Asia-Pacific region was brought to formal recognition by 12 countries intent on combining their successes, ideas, and…
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#27: UNGA 78
Note: The events described below took place prior to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel and the ensuing actions of representatives at the United Nations Security Council meetings which have been the subject of much criticism. Nearly 200 flags stood waving in the cool September breeze coming off the East River which separates…
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#23: Red Gun, Blue Gun
“To protect the sheep, you gotta catch the wolf. And it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.” -Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington in the 2001 film Training Day. “We don’t need any accidents here” is a familiar sentiment woven into virtually all professional weapons training programs. It’s easy to avert hazards when shooters…
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#10: Vexillology
…continued from Blog #9 Upon completion of Orientation, my workgroup will spend much of the remainder of the year in what is known as follow-on training specific to our position. There remains a pass/fail component to this furthered education, much like how police officers, firefighters, and military personnel still need to pass basic training before…
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#7: “What would you say…you do here?”
Title quote taken from the movie Office Space. Thousands of U.S. federal government employees, representing a very wide array of disciplines, are not just working but also living overseas at any given time. In over 175 countries there are U.S. citizens tasked with spreading peace and prosperity while preserving the American way of life. Many…
The Dark Passport 