Diplomacy and International Politics

Will protests at home hurt French President Macron's efforts to be seen as a leader of the West? Former U.S. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns digs in.

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.

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro joined Harvard Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns in a discussion concerning the role Congress should play in foreign policy in the era of President Trump. Castro discussed his upbringing and the civic conscious he gained at a young age alongside his twin brother Julian Castro, which encouraged him to eventually pursue a career in public service. The conversation covered a wide range of foreign affairs topics including immigration, trade, and terrorism. Castro took questions from the audience and voiced his concerns about a variety of global developments and threats and his believe that Congress should take a more active role in these issues.  

At the end of this week, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet formally at the G20 Summit in Hamburg. The meeting comes at a time when there is growing consensus in Washington that the severity of Russian influence on the 2016 election should be dealt with more seriously by the current administration. At a hearing last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a panel of experts said they believed that not only Russian actors, but President Putin himself was behind the effort to undermine the election and urged the U.S. to work closer with its allies in Europe to stop future threats. Putin has denied any interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Nicholas Burns, a former ambassador to NATO and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs for former President George W. Bush, and currently a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, testified at the recent hearing and shares his concerns.

On June 28, Nicholas Burns testified before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on Russian interference in European elections. He called President Trump's response to Russia's cyber attacks on the U.S. democratic system both "dismaying and objectionable." He says it's the "president's duty to be skeptical of Russia and that his refusal to take action is "a dereliction of his basic duty to defend the country."

Former US Ambassador to NATO and Bush administration State Department official Nicholas Burns accused President Donald Trump of a "dereliction of the basic duty to defend the country" for his apparent disinterest in Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election.

Nick Burns talks with CNN Today regarding Russian interference in elections in Europe and the U.S., and the lack of response from the Trump Administration to contain this threat. 

During the Future of Diplomacy Project's 2017 'Europe Week' series, diplomats, scholars, and policymakers visited the Kennedy School to examine Europe's greatest challenges. 

Nicholas Burns provided video commentary on CNN Newsroom on January 8, 2017 on the subject of the alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. presidential election.