Middle East & North Africa

Ahead of President Trump's first State of the Union address, Professor Burns spoke with Meghna Chakrabarti on WBRU's Radio Boston to reflect on Trump's foreign policy decisions in the past year.

While Washington and the media were preoccupied with James Comey hearings and Donald Trump press conferences this week, what else was going on that we didn't hear about? Or, ought to be paying closer attention to? The World's Marco Werman talked to Nick Burns to find out. 

"President Barack Obama’s decision to help the Iraqi armed forces contain or defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) by sending 300 military advisers and offering intelligence, equipment and other support is fully in keeping with the confused American response to the situation in the Middle East. I give him an “A” for consistency, and a “D” for efficacy."

Nicholas Burns outlines the most significant global crises on Obama’s 2014 foreign-policy agenda that will determine whether the year ahead will bring war or peace to the world’s most troubled regions.

In his annual "Peacemakers" column, Nicholas Burns highlights a few remarkable men and women who work tirelessly to bring peace and healing in an increasingly turbulent world. He reminds us of President Kennedy's vision: that despite the violence and tragedy around us, we must hold fast to the urgent, elusive, human dream: "Not merely peace in our time, but peace for all time."

Contrary to a small army of critics and "armchair quarterbacks," Professor Burns gives Secretary of State John Kerry a "job-well-done" in his first six months on the job. From orchestrating this weeks talks in Washington between the Israelis and Palestinians, to cultivating key relationships with India, China and other Asian states, Burns is encouraged that Secretary Kerry is putting diplomacy back on the map. Burns also stresses that diplomacy takes time, and in the digital world of "right now," it is important that we remember that diplomacy and its results are not instant.