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The National Press Club (NPC) is no stranger to the spotlight; its members have reported some of the biggest stories of the last century. On Oct. 14, the NPC itself made news when over 70 people gathered at its Holeman Lounge for the club’s first official press attaché mixer.
In its 27-year history, the Embassy Series has hosted over 600 concerts at nearly 80 partner embassies, and at the University Club of Washington. This gives host countries a chance to showcase their music and culture in the United States; audience members are invited to dine and interact with featured artists following their performances.
The National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) has named Fareed Yasseen, Iraq’s envoy to the United States, as its 2021 “Ambassador of the Year.” Yasseen, who’s been posted to Washington for the last five years, received his education in Switzerland, Iraq and the US.
Nov. 9, 2021—the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire that ended the latest round of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan—we ought to stop and ponder one profound question: Does doing the right thing matter anymore?
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What Diplomats Need to Know About Reopening.
What post-pandemic long-term threats should we be watching?
Culture
After traveling to over a dozen cities in Europe since 2019, the “LOVE HATE” sculpture by German artist Mia Florentine Weiss is finally returning to its birthplace.
The Hillwood Estate explores the 1920s through the eyes of founder Marjorie Merriweather Post, offering a flashy and fabulous look at the Roaring Twenties through one of the wealthiest figures of the age.
Our audiences and artists are increasingly ready to return and have overwhelmingly done the right thing by getting vaccinated. The thing rooted in respect. Now our venues across the D.C. region should very carefully consider doing the same.
On June 19, Little Lady Liberty embarked on a similar trek that her big sister took 135 years ago, crossing the Atlantic to join her full-size sibling on Ellis Island for America’s Independence Day. She was then trucked to D.C. to be displayed on the lawn of the French ambassador’s residence just in time for France’s Bastille Day.
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Friday night, just before midnight, the House of Representatives passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that has headlined news reports over the last few months. Without a doubt, this is the biggest success of Joe Biden’s presidency so far.
American democracy is under threat. Election denialism, crippling polarization, and an environment that breeds self-censorship have exposed gaping cracks in the edifice of our republic. With faith in American democracy plummeting, the Renew Democracy Initiative has united over 50 dissidents from 30 oppressive countries to celebrate America’s founding values but also warn of the dangers that arise when those values are compromised.
For the past year, Trump has continuously attempted to undermine the credibility of the 2020 presidential election. Just last week at his rally in Iowa, nearly one year after the election concluded, Trump was still pushing the same narrative. “I never conceded. . . no reason to concede.”
On Oct. 30, 1991, in the presence of President George H.W. Bush, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and other leaders, the first major peace conference between Israel and its Arab neighbors got underway in Madrid. Yet 30 years after Madrid, real peace remains elusive—and there’s still no Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Colin Powell is likely to be remembered by historians as an inspirational, successful, compelling, but also a tragic American military and political leader. The child of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was an indifferent student at City College of New York.
Qin Gang, China’s new ambassador to the United States, wants to correct three misconceptions when it comes to US-Chinese relations.
U.S. foreign policy in many neighboring countries is directly creating migrant issues like the events documented in Del Rio.
Esteban Moctezuma, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, joined 24 delegates from FIFA and US Soccer visiting Washington, D.C., as part of the selection process to determine what city will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The BBC reported it this way: “The AUKUS pact, which will also cover AI and other technologies, is one of the countries’ biggest defense partnerships in decades, analysts say. China has condemned the agreement as ‘extremely irresponsible.’”
George Packer, a staff writer for The Atlantic and award-winning author of several non-fiction books, is one of the most penetrating, persuasive, and important writers in the United States. He is consistently fair-minded, skeptical, and willing to challenge political orthodoxy and conventional wisdom. He wrote a remarkable book about the Iraq War, a probing biography of Richard Holbrooke, and a stunning account of the economic and social unraveling of America’s middle class.
Anna Gawel and Eric Ham give a candid talk about what went wrong in Afghanistan, what, if any, the long-term repercussions will be, and why there are no easy answers when it comes to a country known as the graveyard of empires.
On Sept. 10, The Washington Diplomat spoke with Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, about the legacy of 9/11, the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship and, of course, the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The new rules amount to Biden saying “enough of the bull” as he steps up efforts to get stubborn Americans vaccinated. When I asked about mandatory vaccinations at the beginning of the Biden administration, press secretary Jen Psaki said the president was opposed to them.
Until coronavirus paralyzed the airline industry in early 2020, more than a million passengers were flying annually between the United States and West Africa. Now that international travel is gradually returning to normal, Air Senegal hopes to grab a slice of that business.
