The Foreign Service has undergone major reforms and tinkering over the past century, so much so that people often joked…
“Our government has evidenced moral bankruptcy”: The Blood Telegram and the 1971 Bengali Genocide
Pakistan after independence was a strange creation: the capital, Islamabad, and most of the power were located in the west…
Evacuating Somalia
Codename: Operation Eastern Exit. In January 1991, violence due to the Somali Civil War had escalated so much that Ambassador…
Today in History
Find articles about diplomatic events from each day of the year Here’s a handy calendar of events linked to Moments…
444 Days: Memoirs of an Iran Hostage
More than thirty years later, the Iran Hostage crisis still ranks as one of the most traumatic diplomatic events in…
Dissidents, Spies, and Attack Cartoons — Life at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba were frozen in time for more than 50 years. After the U.S. formally severed…
Establishing Ties with Pakistan — 1947
It was the end of one era and the beginning of another. In August 1947 the British Empire, which had…
The Birth of the Chemical Weapons Convention (and the OPCW)
Recent events in Syria have once again spotlighted the dangers of chemical weapons and international efforts to catalog and destroy…
Mission to Algiers: Diplomacy by Engagement
Back to Diplomats and Diplomacy Mission to Algiers: Diplomacy by Engagement “At a time when the United States is encouraging…
The More Things Change – A Look Back at Syria’s Hafez al-Assad
“You know I have my ups and downs, but I have a pact with God. The pact is that no…