The government of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan came to a violent end in what was called the Saur Revolution…
Melissa Wells: From Vegas Showgirl to Chief of Mission
Melissa Foelsch Wells, accomplished diplomat and four-time ambassador, was among the pioneers who paved the way for women to work…
George Kennan — Containment and the Cold War
George Frost Kennan was, and still remains, a very controversial and legendary figure in American diplomatic history. As a historian,…
A Bum Rap for April Glaspie — Saddam and the Start of the Iraq War
In the summer of 1990, concerns were growing that Saddam Hussein, who was massing troops near the border with Kuwait, was…
Getting Kosovo Right: Working to Avoid Another Bosnia
Yugoslavia had long been a simmering caldron of ethnic and nationalist tensions. After the death of Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz…
Billion-Dollar “Plan Colombia” to End Decades of Civil War
Published January 2016 A guerrilla organization known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias…
Creating Yaounde’s First Consulate
The first official U.S. diplomatic post in Cameroon was founded in 1957 during its waning days as a United Nations…
Brunei: The Richest Little Country You’ve Never Heard Of
Brunei, situated on the northern shore of the island of Borneo in the South China Sea, is one of the…
Negotiating the UNFCCC – Moving to the Endgame
In Part III, Robert Reinstein, the United States’ top negotiator at the United Nations, and Stephanie Kinney, one of the State…
Negotiating the UNFCCC – “The Whole World Was Against Us”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a landmark international climate treaty which entered into force in March…