On October 13, President Donald Trump stood in front of the Knesset to give a speech following the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage exchange deal in Gaza. In his remarks, he thanked just a handful of Americans who made the agreement possible, figures like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Before all […]
Tag: diplomacy
Netanyahu Faces the World, and the World Walks Out
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Sep. 26, 2025, symbolism freighted the event. His address was not merely a policy statement: It was a high-stakes performance under the twin shadows of war crimes allegations and a Trump pardon that cleared a path for him to […]
Diplomacy as Performance in Trump’s Saudi Strategy
Unlike most U.S. presidents who traditionally make their first foreign trip to Canada or Mexico, Donald Trump broke precedent in 2017 by choosing Saudi Arabia and returning again in 2019. These visits signaled a dramatic recentering of U.S. foreign policy around Riyadh, reflecting Trump’s fascination with Saudi wealth, spectacle, and geopolitical leverage. Yet, as Saudi […]
Chipping Away at the Bloc: Hungary’s Crossroads with the EU
Following the large-scale casualties of World War II, the human condition was at its trough. Some 75 million lost their lives, and a similar number of people were forced to flee their home countries. Consequently, the European Union (EU) formed, intended to create a coalition that negotiates intercontinental peace in the midst of conflict. However, […]
Panda-Monium: The Love Story of Pandas and Washington
In 1972, two ambassadors left China for the U.S. They did not speak a word of English or Mandarin. In fact, they could hardly walk on two feet. These were not people, but pandas, China’s national animal. Since arriving in America, they have become an enduring symbol of the goodwill and cooperation between China and […]
The Koreas: Stars of a Familiar Global Standoff
70 years after South Korea and North Korea called a ceasefire on their ongoing armed conflict, tensions have run high between the two countries, but not culminating in mass violence. Their diplomatic relations continue to remain frosty, and their differences have diverged further through their respective alliances with the United States and Russia. Given the […]
Reworking Rocky Relations: What Burkina Faso’s New Alliances Mean for the Region
Last month, Burkina Faso rocked global news when it announced the termination of its military agreement with France. The ex-colonial European power had been occupying the jihadist-hit West African state since 2014. It has dispersed around 400 special troops in efforts to expand its presence in the Sahel region. Burkina Faso is still combatting an […]
Confronting China: The Best Deterrence Lies in a Multilateral Alliance
In my last article, I detailed some of the strategic and technological changes that the U.S. needs to make to its military strategy to successfully deter China from military action in East Asia. Though maintaining our military edge is important, China is a rising power while the U.S. is in relative decline. China has both […]
Saudi Prince Signals Frustration With Palestinian Leadership
Saudi Arabia has been a crucial ally to the Palestinian struggle for statehood, supporting with diplomacy and finance essentially since the cause commenced in the early twentieth century. It comes as some surprise then that it might weaken its commitment with such a long standing cause for justice. Saudi Arabia has yet to enter “normalization” […]
A Precarious Peace: Israeli-Jordanian Relations
The 1994 Israeli-Jordan Peace Treaty ushered in an unprecedented era of diplomatic relations, brokering peace between an Arab nation and Israel in ways previously unimaginable. This peace process has enjoyed longevity into the present day; yet this historical peace was not without unease and will certainly crack under pressure if the United States and Israel […]