More than 70 guests representing over 20 countries—including ambassadors and other VIPs— came together July 15 for a night of art and food to celebrate the opening of Embassy Row’s newest “in place to be.”
The symbolic event, billed as a press conference, took place at Lithuania’s embassy in Washington. It was highlighted by the presence of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the 38-year-old opposition leader and widely regarded winner of her country’s August 2020 presidential elections
On July 15, Sonia Guzmán, the country’s new ambassador to the United States, hosted a reception at her Washington, D.C., residence to promote both products. At the event, some 120 guests enjoyed premium cigars while sampling top Dominican rums, as well as coffee and chocolate.
Since Christopher Columbus first disembarked on the island of Cuba in the 15th century and brought infectious disease on an unsuspecting population, foreigners have dictated Cuba’s destiny. Irrespective of which great power was at play, all have pursued a similar course of action: Might is right. Little has changed in the intervening centuries.
Ambassador of the European Union to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis participated in a wide-ranging discussion with Anna Gawel on Global 360, produced by The Washington Diplomat, on July 8.
As President Biden remarked at the recent G7 summit to fellow world leaders “America is back.” While the United States is seeking to deepen relationship around the world, digital diplomacy has a pivotal role to play in influencing key decision makers at the White, State Department and on Capitol Hill. Digital media offers a low-cost way to engage, persuade and influence the citizens of allies and adversaries.
Mexico has its tequila, France its champagne and Cyprus its haloumi cheese. Yet some national dishes have inevitably led to squabbling. Israel and Lebanon both claim hummus as their own; Chile and Peru have argued for more than a century over which nation concocted the pisco sour.
I set out to argue that the pandemic has had a “positive” effect on diplomacy. I do so fully aware that I could have always resorted to the overused adjective “interesting” to describe that very effect, perhaps more diplomatically. The purpose remains to give a brief account of the beneficial impact of the pandemic on the digitalization of diplomacy and how that ultimately led diplomats to become more aware than ever before of the nature, significance and peculiarity of their work.
As the delta variant of COVID-19 rips across the globe—driving infection rates to record highs throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia—Caribbean leaders are pleading with the Biden administration for vaccines in order to avert total economic catastrophe.
The United Nations diplomatic corps is about to say farewell to one of its best-known members. Christoph Heusgen, Germany’s permanent representative in New York since 2017, departs at the end of June. During his tenure, which included a stint on the Security Council in 2019 and 2020, Heusgen has impressed and sometimes infuriated other diplomats with his plain-speaking, principled brand of diplomacy. He will be missed.
Luxury hotel managers in the nation’s capital are optimistic that the hospitality industry here will rebound quickly as restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.
Presidential motorcades, huge monuments and noisy political protests are all part of the fabric of life in Washington, D.C. So are foreign diplomats and their license plates—which, like in any world capital, imply special perks like premium parking spaces and immunity from speeding tickets. But what about these so-called “diplo plates” as collectibles?
It would be nothing short of a “catastrophe” for athletes and the world sporting community if Japan cancels the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo due to coronavirus concerns. That’s the unanimous view of three sports experts who spoke in a June 2 webinar organized by the Czech Embassy in Washington.
KIBBUTZ KETURA, Israel — At a remote desert outpost in Israel’s Arava Valley—far from the Hamas missiles and mob violence that shook this country last month—Jews and Arabs are quietly working together to tackle the region’s most pressing water, energy and ecological issues.
After the widespread circulation of a video earlier this month that appeared to show two seventh-grade boys forcing their genitals into the mouth of a girl in first grade, Shpresa Shala—education director for the municipality of Prishtinë, Kosovo’s capital—brushed off the incident as “games kids play.” That led even more people to join the street protests under the banner: “It’s not a game, it’s trauma.”
A distance of more than 3,000 miles separates the Czech capital of Prague from Banjul, capital of The Gambia—mainland Africa’s tiniest independent republic.
Yet cycling enthusiasts who’d like to bridge the gap, at least symbolically, can easily do that on June 3, which happens to be World Bicycle Day 2021.
