The Washington Diplomat

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Venezuela’s Opposition Is Clinging to a Failed Strategy

The emergence of a dynamic young leader galvanized the Venezuelan opposition two years ago. Juan Guaido united disparate opposition parties and won recognition as the country’s legitimate president from Donald Trump’s administration and dozens of other governments.

DC-based organizations dominate 2020 list of world’s top think tanks

Washington, D.C., is home to more think tanks—and better ones—than any other city on Earth. In fact, six of the world’s 20 best such organizations are headquartered in the nation’s capital, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Strategies Program.

A diplomatic first: Israel, Kosovo forge bilateral relations via Zoom

“Virtual diplomacy” just took on a whole new meaning. On Feb. 1, for the first time in history, two countries — in this case Israel and Kosovo — established official ties remotely, during a 28-minute ceremony broadcast via Zoom from two capital cities nearly 1,100 miles apart.

DC-based consular officials shine during global COVID-19 emergency

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.

Nagorno-Karabakh: After ceasefire, search for lasting peace begins

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.

D.C. diplomats praise protesters in Belarus, Europe’s last dictatorship

“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.

Women envoys turn to D.C. ‘power group’ for contacts, sisterly advice

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.

Sweden’s New Head of Americas Talks Feminist Foreign Policy

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.

Sinam Mohamad Pushes U.S. Not to Abandon Her Fellow Kurds in Syria

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.