Diplomacy and International Politics

During the Trump administration, the usual ways of conducting diplomacy have been upended. Many positions in the State Department have never been filled, and meetings with foreign leaders such as Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin have been undertaken with little advance planning. What effect are these changes having now, and how will they affect ongoing relationships between the United States and its allies and adversaries?

WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials are increasingly convinced that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is culpable in the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an appraisal that poses challenges to a White House intent on maintaining a close relationship with the kingdom.

A seminar with Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on his new book The Burning Shores: Inside the Battle for the New Libya from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

According to Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. ambassador who served Bill Clinton and in both Bush administrations, Trump’s approach in Syria has more in common with Obama’s than either would likely admit. “I think that the president’s tweet yesterday was specific enough that he has effectively drawn a red line as well. I think that the president needs to respond to this.”

A seminar with Safwan Masri, Executive Vice President for Global Centers and Global Development and Senior Research Scholar, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University on his recent book, Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly from Columbia University Press.