A single election can have many impacts, but one in particular unmasked a deep, controversial issue based on ethnic tensions.…
George W. Bush and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
Forty million total cases. Three million deaths. One year. This was not the casualty of a bloody global conflict, but…
Siberia and Samizdat: Moscow’s Underground During Communism
Long regarded as a monolithic entity where any dissension was ruthlessly suppressed by the KGB, Western audiences often ignored the…
Drowning in a Strawberry Ice Cream Soda: Life as a Diplomat in the Philippines
World powers, including the United States, have long considered the Philippines to be of strategic importance. The entire landmass of…
Disposition in Diplomacy
Bureaucracies are often considered dry and difficult to navigate. However, every organization is only as good as the people who…
An Unconventional Leader—Pope Francis Transforms the Vatican
White smoke billowed from the Vatican, indicating that the College of Cardinals had cast their ballots. Jorge Mario Bergolgio, a…
The Felix Bloch Affair: An Unsolved Case of Cold War Espionage
In 1989, French counterintelligence agents watched Felix Bloch as he dined in Paris with known Soviet spy “Pierre Bart.” Bloch…
Kwame Nkrumah and the United States — A Tumultuous Relationship
Ghana and the United States have historically boasted a close friendship, partnering together in exchange programs, trade, and development initiatives.…
“Jesus, now I can really do some business”—Jump starting the Economy of War-Torn Bosnia
Bosnia, 1995: utterly decimated infrastructure, near-universal unemployment, and a state bank straight out of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Such were the conditions…
Brief Portraits of the Ghanaian People—A Collection of FSO Personal Perceptions
With a rich history, beautiful landscape, and friendly people, Ghana is one of the most welcoming countries in sub-Saharan Africa.…