American Diplomat

How do trade agreements affect regular people? Tony Wayne, former Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs and US Ambassador to Mexico, breaks down both the recent US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the preceding North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and explains why everything that happens between the US and Mexico is "intermestic," or both international and domestic.

What's so important about devoting your life to service? What are the rewards? How have the changing times impacted the work of diplomacy, and how have they not? One thing never changes: You have the opportunity to promote and protect and defend the interests of the United States of America.

Why was a stash of Nazi spy payoff money stuffed up Pete's chimney? Why was the Iran hostage crisis of the 70s such a huge aberration of norms? And why can it be difficult to tell the difference between diplomatic reporting and espionage? David Stewart is back with more stories.

Is immunity the same as impunity? Sadly for some, there are always consequences for a bad act. David Stewart, former State Department attorney, explains the reality.

Sondland, the Ukraine affair, and what this episode in history teaches us about the risks of appointing ambassadors who donate heavily to presidential campaigns. With Ambassador Dennis Jett, author of the new book titled, American Ambassadors: The Past, Present and Future of America's Diplomats.

We love Thanksgiving, and our diplomats especially love the holiday when celebrated overseas. What better way to celebrate an American tradition of thanks than to share it with our friends abroad? Plus, what's the best way to slaughter a turkey? Better ask the Uzbeks because the Americans really don't know. Cheers!

They left to join the recruiter-imams' war. Now they're back home in Kosovo. How to make these young men peace-loving Kosovars once more? Greg Delawie explains.

Jim Dobbins, National Security Advisor to Bill Clinton, riffs on what it's like to work for Bill under the cloud of impeachment more than 20 years ago.

Mike Polt, who previously shared his experience in Serbia, shares a contrasting tale of successful adaptation to new circumstances in Estonia. What can we learn from these two tales?

Michael Polt shares his perspective on the honored tradition of the State Department dissent channel, and discusses his experience in the former Yugoslavia when he arrived as Ambassador to Serbia in 2003, just after the bombings in Kosovo. What actually was Yugoslavia, anyway? How did its dictator Tito's death give rise to Milosevic's era of bloodletting in Serbia? And how did the United States lead diplomatically to restore stability in the region?