Diplomacy and International Politics

The United States is hitting Russia with new sanctions to punish President Vladimir Putin's government for using a nerve agent against a former spy and his daughter in Britain. The US State Department says the Trump Administration has determined that Russia has used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law, but the action comes five months after the US expelled more than 50 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the same poisoning.

An audio recording of a public address by Nadia Hijab, Executive Director, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network.

Opening the joint CLIMATE CHANGE DIPLOMACY WEEK event series, speakers and leading climate change experts from both Harvard and beyond participated in a panel discussion titled "What's at Stake in Paris?: Diplomacy and Policy at the Climate Change Talks," moderated by the Future of Diplomacy Project Faculty Director, R. Nicholas Burns, and co-hosted with the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements on November 9. The speakers comprised of Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University, Daniel Schrag;former Costa Rican Minister of Environment and Energy, René Castro; former Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs and chief climate negotiator, Paula Dobriansky; and Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and Director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Robert Stavins. Together panellists weighed in on the upcoming UNFCCC talks to be held in Paris in December and the overarching policy issues at play.

An audio recording from His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States (2005-2007) and former Director General of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate (1977-2001).

On November 18, 2014 Prince Turki spoke on regional instability and forces at work in the region, including power politics, energy markets, violent extremism, and theological divides, in a public address moderated by Kennedy School professor Nicholas Burns.

Former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department and current Senior Adviser on the Iran Nuclear Negotiations, Jake Sullivan, delivered an address entitled "Headlines and Trendlines - the Obama Administration's Foreign Policy" and led a discussion with the Future of Diplomacy Faculty Director, R. Nicholas Burns, experts, students, and fellows on October 30. He examined President Obama's current foreign policy strategy and priorities as well as expectations for the remaining two years of the Obama presidency.

A conversation with India's Chief Climate Negotiator and 2014 fall Fisher Family Fellow, Minister Jairam Ramesh, hosted by Ambassaor Nicholas Burns.

An audio recording from November 4, 2013, when Professor Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, interviewed Mr. Dan Meridor, Harvard Kennedy School Lamont Lecturer and former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, about US-Israel relations, Iran and Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.