How Countries Use Food to Win Friends and Influence People

Around the World, Foreign Policy FeedLeave a comment

The spa­cious ground-floor space in the for­mer res­i­dence of the Span­ish ambas­sador in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., was packed with peo­ple. All around the walls, large, col­or­ful, artis­tic pic­tures of Span­ish ingre­di­ents and spe­cial­ties revealed what the event was all about: Span­ish food. The audi­ence was com­posed of pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts who had come to hear a…

U.S. Embassies in Africa Are Chronically Short-Staffed

Around the World, Foreign Policy FeedLeave a comment

U.S. embassies across Africa are fac­ing chron­ic staffing short­ages that are under­cut­ting U.S. for­eign-pol­i­­cy goals on the con­ti­nent and sap­ping the morale of the diplo­mat­ic corps, accord­ing to inter­views with mul­ti­ple U.S. offi­cials and region­al experts. The prob­lem has caught the atten­tion of top U.S. law­mak­ers, who have raised alarm bells about the long-term impact…

It’s Africa’s Century—for Better or Worse

Foreign Policy Feed, Foreign Policy Journal, UncategorizedLeave a comment

In the com­ing decades, we face a rev­o­lu­tion­ary shift in the bal­ance of world affairs—and it is like­ly not the one you are think­ing of. Since the 1990s, the idea that we might be enter­ing an “Asian cen­tu­ry” has pre­oc­cu­pied and dis­ori­en­tat­ed the West. How­ev­er, once we take in view the long sweep of his­to­ry, the…

‘Thanks, Putin’: Finnish and Swedish Lawmakers Aim for NATO Membership

Around the World, Foreign Policy Feed, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Finnish and Swedish oppo­si­tion lead­ers trav­eled to Wash­ing­ton this week to meet with U.S. offi­cials as their coun­tries kick-start debates on join­ing NATO in the wake of Russia’s inva­sion of Ukraine. Pet­teri Orpo, the chair of Finland’s cen­ter-right Nation­al Coali­tion Par­ty, and Ulf Kris­ters­son, the leader of the oppo­si­tion in Sweden’s par­lia­ment and head of…