Recent Blog Posts
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Old Contact Reported Compromised Signal Call about Attack on Houthis
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A number of senior US officials on a Signal call to discuss the US attack on the Houthis inadvertently included a journalist who should not have been on the call. The Wall Street Journal reporter who wrote the story, Michael Gordon, used to call me at home to seek confirmation…
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Venezuelan Expulsions Look Bad
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I am disappointed in how Trump deported the 200 Venezuelans on … There seem to be several legal complications, mainly whether the Trump administration violated the judge’s order not to proceed with the deportations by continuin with the deportations. These are important and should be resolved. My personal concern is…
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Europeans Shun American Internet Firms
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Wired Magazine reports that European countries are becoming more wary of doing business with big US internet and cloud firms like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. , “There’s a huge appetite in Europe to de-risk or decouple the over-dependence on US tech companies, because there is a concern that they could…
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Trump Encourages Tax Cheats
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The Washington Post reports that income from tax payments could drop by 10% due to Trump’s interference with IRS, meaning that the national debt will probably go up faster than it would have before Trump and Must began attacking the IRS.
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Shultz on Trust
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The Foreign Service Journal reran an article by former Secretary of State George Shultz. He said: Our relations with much of the rest of the world also have become characterized by distrust bordering on hostility, even in the way Washington deals with close allies in Europe and Asia. We are…
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George Moose Under Fire at US Institute of Peace
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I served in the Foreign Service with George Moose, who according to NBC News, is under fire by DOGE for his role as the head of the US Institute of Peace. The article says: The lawsuit — which was brought by the Institute of Peace and members of the board and…
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Trump Encourages Nuclear Proliferation
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Trump’s refusal to support our traditional military allies, as well as Ukraine, has created unease about their reliance on the US nuclear umbrella, explained in this op-ed in the New York Times. More countries are considering developing their own nuclear weapons, unsetting decades of efforts to prevent their proliferation. America’s European…
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Russian Literature under Putin
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While there appear to be some good Russian writers uner Putin’s rule, according to Izba Arts, there don’t appear to be any great writers like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, or Pasternak. Putin has been more successful in snuffing out the life of the mind in Russia than previous Tsarist or Communist…
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Zelenskyy in Danger
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believe that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is in danger, and not just from the random missiles and drones that fall on Kyiv each night. If Putin succeeds in taking over Ukraine years after he first attempted to, he will wnt to get rid of Zelenskyy, who is a potential rallying point…
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Richard Haass on Frank Wisner
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Richard Haass’ Home and Away publication noted the passing of Foreign Service Officer Frank Wisner, and the related diminution of the Foreign Service as an institution. Haass wrote: Frank’s death is not just a personal loss for me, the passing of a friend and colleague I both liked and respected.…