Diplomacy and International Politics

The post-MSC discussion at the Hertie School offered an insider’s view into the conference, bringing together Nicholas Burns, former US Ambassador to NATO and Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Daniela Schwarzer, Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin, and Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, Professor for Security Policy and Diplomatic Practice at the Hertie School of Governance and Chairman of the MSC.

In this installment of “Conversations in Diplomacy," the Future of Diplomacy Project's Faculty Chair Nicholas Burns is joined by Susan Glasser, Staff Writer at the New Yorker, Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, and Kurt Volker, Executive Director of the McCain Institute, for a conversation on the current crisis in the transatlantic relationship.

We have the most solipsistic president in American history offering up the most solipsistic foreign policy ever at a time when the me-me-me generation are busy taking selfies and other pols the planet over are trying to play that self-centeredness to their advantage. Have we reached Peak Solipsism? And what does that mean for the international system. We discuss in honor of and in the context of this week’s meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York City with David Rothkopf in New York, Ambassador Nicholas Burns in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rosa Brooks in Washington, DC and Kori Schake in London, England.

Former US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns speaks with AM's Kim Landers. He describes the Brussels NATO summit as "messy" and "divisive" due to President Trump's adversarial stance, which he says was an attempt to signal to his supporters at home that he was standing up to Europe. He describes Mr Trump's threats of leaving the treaty as "preposterous."

President Trump is in Europe this week, having first been in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, then heading to the UK for Thursday meetings and a visit with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, before meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday July 16.

As President Trump leaves Brussels, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, about the United States' place in the alliance and the threat from Russia.

President Trump has renewed his criticism of European defence spending, branding it inadequate. Rob Young of BBC's Business Matters asks former US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns what's at stake.

As President Trump travels to Europe for the NATO summit, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns talks to Rachel Martin about what is at stake.