Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the winter of 1991, the newly-formed Russian Federation took on the challenge…
The Last Emperor – The Fall of Haile Selassie
None could be more considered more central to the modern history of Africa’s longest independent nation, Ethiopia, than Emperor Haile Selassie. Regent…
Sue McCourt Cobb: Ambassador and Summiteer of Mt. Everest
Climbing Mount Everest has long been the epitome of physical and mental endurance. Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became…
A Battle of Wills in Berlin, 1959
Throughout the Cold War, Berlin was one of the main battlegrounds for the psychological warfare between the United States and the…
A Russo-American Diplomat: Back in the USSR
Vladimir Toumanoff, a Foreign Service officer for 25 years, had the extraordinary experience of returning as an American diplomat to…
Eyes of the Dragon — Under Surveillance in China
The extent of the surveillance operations of the Soviet KGB is legendary, but the Soviet Union was not the only…
Drug-Sniffing Mongooses and Other Tales of the Sri Lankan Civil War
In July 1983, tensions increased between Tamil minority separatists and the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, erupting into civil war.…
“Drain Your Glass” — Alcoholism in the Foreign Service
Each and every job has a certain set of requirements and restrictions. Alcohol has played a large role in diplomacy,…
Congo in Crisis: The Rise and Fall of Katangan Secession
When the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) became independent from Belgium in June 1960,…
The Sabra and Shatila Massacre
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had invaded Lebanon in June 1982 with the goal of pushing out the Palestinian Liberation…