Diplomacy and International Politics

Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nick Burns says President Trump is the weakest American president in the last 70 years in dealing with Russia and standing up to Vladimir Putin. He discusses with MSNBC’s David Gura.

Today, the Yemeni people are suffering from the actions of outsiders. Regional powers have turned the country into an arena for proxy conflicts that have little to do with the actual interests of the Yemeni nation. Large parts of the country have been devastated, including much of its vital infrastructure. Millions are threatened by starvation and disease. The fighting has left tens of thousands of others dead or wounded.

For a decade now the Halifax International Security Forum has been a place to discuss the major external threats facing Western democracies and how to counter them.  One of the main themes coming out of this year's gathering of military, political and academic leaders is the biggest threat to democracy is coming from within.

"In the democratic world, many of our strongest and largest democracies are in some type of crisis," says former U.S. ambassador Nicholas Burns, who now teaches at the Kennedy School at Harvard University.

Former ambassador Nicholas Burns, Harvard Kennedy School professor, predicts a 'fractured' Iraq for the next five or ten years.

Ambassadors Daniel Feldman, Marc Grossman, and Rick Olson, former Special Representatives to Afghanistan and Pakistan, spoke about the status of the conflict and made recommendations for current and future administrations. 

Sandri Gozi, Italian Undersecretary of State for European Affairs, joined the Future of Diplomacy Project on November 1 for a discussion titled “Italy, the EU and the US: A Conversation on Transatlantic Challenges.”

Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni activist and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, served as a Fisher Family Fellow with Harvard’s Future of Diplomacy Project. An outspoken and passionate advocate for human rights, she was critical of the inaction of international institutions and developed nations in response to rights violations in the Middle East.

The fall of Aleppo is a human catastrophe. It’s also a demonstration of the perils of choosing the middle course in a military conflict. Sometimes it’s possible to talk and fight at the same time. But in Syria, the U.S. decision to pursue a dual-track, halfway approach made the mayhem worse.

Excerpt from a November 14 installment of the “Inside the Middle East" Q&A Series, with Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni Activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, on women's role in Yemen's 2011 Revolution (of which she was a leading voice) and her hopes for the future of Yemen amidst the mixed results of the Arab Spring.