With COVID-19 casting a frightening shadow over the world, several experts debated the pluses and, mostly, minuses of our current virtual reality, in which public health concerns have trumped international travel, making it nearly impossible for diplomats to meet face-to-face.
In the midst of political chaos in the nation’s capital—and with coronavirus death tolls across the United States now exceeding 4,000 a day, the Meridian International Center welcomed 15 newly credentialed foreign ambassadors to Washington, D.C.
the eagerly awaited change of political leadership in the United States will bring new opportunities for global cooperation, but only to those who are ready to seize them. The task, as always, will be to leverage what we do know while remaining ever mindful of our own epistemic limits.
Say the word “diplomat” and most people automatically think of the roughly 175 ambassadors who represent their countries at physical embassies in the nation’s capital. Yet when foreign nationals find themselves in a pickle, they usually turn to consular officers — not ambassadors — for assistance.
The pandemic upended the balls and galas that organizations usually host as their main source of fundraising, but many have learned that virtual events can not only still raise money, but also be more inclusive, both in terms of performers and attendees.
After 43 days of fighting, thousands dead and wounded, the creation of a new humanitarian crisis and a major geopolitical shift in a longstanding frozen conflict, a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh came into effect at midnight on Nov. 9, although many questions remain about what will happen to this disputed territory.
“The Minsk government’s repeated attempts to intimidate society has been ineffective. We cannot abandon the democratic movement in Belarus in its time of need,” said Polish Ambassador Piotr Wilczek, who joined a recent panel of experts to discuss the brutal crackdown on protesters by the Lukashenko regime.
From tiny Monaco, the world’s second-smallest country in size, to vast Canada, the world’s second-largest, foreign governments have more women representing them here than ever before. And for roughly the last three years, an informal club exists for these sisters-in-diplomacy: the Washington Women’s Power Group.
As she takes up her latest diplomatic posting, Veronika Wand-Danielsson will not only be responsible for Sweden’s relations with North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, she will also continue to implement her country’s pioneering feminist foreign policy.
Ambassadors from Albania, Monaco, Uzbekistan and the Czech Republic describe how COVID-19 has hurt their countries — and upended diplomacy in D.C.
A future conflict with China isn’t likely to resemble a traditional military clash. Rather, it will look like the scenario that’s already playing out — a global battle over technology and trade, which could presage a new “cold war.”
For nearly three years, Sinam Sherkany Mohamad has worked the corridors of power in Washington to drum up American support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which she represents as the U.S. envoy for the Syrian Democratic Council, part of the group’s political wing.
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center’s “Diplomatic Messages of Hope” campaign offers embassies a virtual platform to share words of encouragement amid the coronavirus pandemic.
With the head of its central bank predicting the worst economic downturn since World War II, a global pandemic raging and its second-largest economy about to completely depart, these are trying times — yet again — for the European Union.