Diplomacy | The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum

Slovakia in the European Union 10 Years On: Promises Fulfilled?

August 12, 2014

Rick Zednik, EURActiv CEO

The spring of 2004 was momentous in the history of independent Slovakia. On May 1 of that year, the country joined the European Union. Coming as it did less than five weeks after Slovakia joined NATO, this marked the culmination of a long process that was highly uncertain in the 1990′s. A decade later, we can now reflect on what enabled Slovakia to join these European and trans-Atlantic structures, and how the subsequent integration has fared.

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Slovakia in the European Union 10 Years On: Promises Fulfilled?PatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

The European Union: America’s Friend or Foe?

June 11, 2013

Brian E. Carlson, Ambassador, experienced public diplomacy specialist and a former Career Minister in the U.S. Foreign Service

Does America have anything to fear from the new EU? Are our closest allies moving away from trans-Atlantic organizations like NATO and becoming a large, powerful and competing coalition? Can the EU be a partner for American business, diplomacy and socio-economic goals? Is the EU likely to “eat America’s lunch” in the world economy, or drag us down in Europe’s own morass of dubious debt and rampant regulation?

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The European Union: America’s Friend or Foe?PatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

The Geopolitics of Oil

February 9, 2013

Molly Williamson, former Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Career Minister, is an expert on energy, economic and demographic factors affecting foreign policy formulation, US-Middle East relations, especially the Israel-Palestine conflict, Iran and nuclear challenges, and the inter-agency process

How do energy, economic and demographic factors affect US foreign policy decision-making as they relate to America’s relations in the Middle East and especially the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Iran and its nuclear challenges as well as their roles within the US government’s inter-agency policy making process?

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The Geopolitics of OilPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

The Fallout from Libya: Al Qaeda in Africa

November 27, 2012

Vicki Huddleston, Ambassador, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa; US Ambassador to Madagascar and to Mali; Principal Officer of the US Interests Section in Havana and Chargé d’affairs ad interim in Ethiopia

The power vacuum created by Qadhafi’s fall goes beyond the tragic death of our Ambassador and his colleagues in Benghazi — the same city that the US led coalition saved from rape and pillage. Religious extremism, terror and crime now thrive within Libya and beyond. Having destroyed the country of Mali and established a homeland in West Africa from where, violent extremism will spread across the Sahara and North back into Algeria and Libya creating another Afghanistan if we fail to adopt a proactive counter terrorism strategy that will help Africa defeat Al Qaeda.

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The Fallout from Libya: Al Qaeda in AfricaPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

Engaging a Dangerous World Without Guns: The U.S Foreign Service Today

November 9, 2012

Nicholas Kralev, author, a journalist and a lecturer on international affairs, diplomacy and global travel

Americans are still reeling from the death by suffocation of their Ambassador to Libya in the city of Benghazi, dramatic proof that the life of a diplomat today doesn’t conform to tea party stereotypes. In this talk, Nick Kralev goes behind the scenes to tell us what life is like for those representing the U.S. in a turbulent, changing world. Having been granted privileged access to the inner sanctum of American diplomacy in Washington and to embassies and U.S. diplomats around the world over several years, he has written a book entitled America’s Other Army, the one that’s armed with words and (sometimes) money. In the course of his research Kralev visited more than 50 U.S. embassies and interviewed some 600 career diplomats—this on top of his previous, decade-long, round-the-world contacts with four Secretaries of State (Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright) as they visited over 80 countries.

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Engaging a Dangerous World Without Guns: The U.S Foreign Service TodayPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

Bureaucracy Does its Thing: US Performance in Afghanistan

June 15, 2012

Todd Greentree, former political/military advisor US forces in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Angola and Afghanistan

Most Americans are relieved that the international intervention in Afghanistan is winding down more than a decade after 9/11. Can the absence of clear cut victory despite a considerable investment of blood and treasure be attributed to Afghanistan’s reputation as the “graveyard of empires?” Meanwhile, Afghans have suffered 34 years of instability and war. How do they feel about the departure of foreign troops? Are they prepared to assume their own defense? Despite differences in scale, are there clear parallels with the experience of the US in Vietnam nearly 50 years ago? What lessons have we learned from the handling of these these conflicts? Finally, will historians judge the Afghan intervention to have been a success or failure? (more…)

Bureaucracy Does its Thing: US Performance in AfghanistanPatK2019-05-01T14:20:28-07:00