Lord Palmerston, a former British prime minister and three time foreign minister, once famously noted, “Dining is the soul of…
The Last Ones Left: Inside the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
With a simple “good luck” from President Richard Nixon, Ambassador Joseph Farland set out to Pakistan, unsure of what to…
Food for Thought: A Woman in African Agricultural Development
In 2003, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) allocated up to $650 million worth of food aid to…
Back to Back—U.S. and Honduran Election Highlights
While U.S. politics can be contentious, American elections themselves tend to run smoothly. Usually, voters cast their ballots, numbers are…
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.…
Rough Landing: Controlled Aircraft Crash in Honduras
Towards the end of his posting in Honduras, Ambassador Frank Almaguer received multiple requests from other countries’ ambassadors for transportation…
The Last American Diplomat in Medellín—Countering Anti-Americanism in Cartel-Era Colombia
Guns, cocaine, and kidnappings—this was the state of much of Colombia in the early 1980s. Medellín in particular, home to…
“Am I Going to Watch a U.S. Senator Get Shot?”—Observing the Fall of the Marcos Regime in the Philippines
Senator John Kerry bravely pushed aside armed hostile Philippine military personnel and policemen, rushing into the barricaded church in front…
On Loan to the U.S. Senate—A Change in Perspective
Among the American general public, the United States Congress is commonly found to have a poor reputation, stereotyped as inefficient…