American Diplomat

Latest Episodes:

Thanksgiving with AmDip! Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

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!

When ISIS Comes Home Nov 21, 2019

Show notes

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.

Remember the Last Impeachment? Nov 14, 2019

Show notes

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.

Estonia's Success Story Nov 07, 2019

Show notes

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?

Diplomacy After the Bombs Have Fallen Oct 30, 2019

Show notes

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?

Heroes of US Diplomacy - Lizzie Slater Oct 24, 2019

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Brand new to the job, Lizzie Slater arrives at Embassy Dar es Salaam ready to begin work on embassy communications of every kind. Then the bomb falls. She is buried and seriously injured. But once pulled from the rubble, does she stop working? Many of us would, but Lizzie climbs trees to place satellites and does every task needed to ensure communications between the embassy and the US.

Corruption vs. the Ambassador Oct 17, 2019

Show notes

Ambassador Prudence Bushnell puts Marie Yovanovitch's recent testimony on Capitol Hill in the context of the Certificate of Commission for all Foreign Service Officers, emphasizing the integrity, prudence and ability that are the guiding principle from which all American diplomats work. The message from Pete and Pru to current FSOs: We've got your back.

Sequoia is a She Oct 10, 2019

Show notes

The Sequoia: A presidential yacht? A floating icon of American and diplomatic history? A loan gone south? Pete schools Laura on the proper pronoun for a thing of such great beauty (a "she", not an "it") and Mike Cantor does his best to answer our nosey questions about what really went on onboard.

https://youtu.be/S1NcM6BW2Jo

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money Oct 01, 2019

Show notes

We're in LA right now promoting a TV script we've written, inspired by many of AmDip's greatest stories including this one from an interview with Kate Canavan on the many things that can go wrong in Tijuana. Two air traffic controllers, fired for going on strike, go into (very) private industry. Pete's words: "Breaking Bad, in the skies."

Love in the Time of Tweet Diplomacy Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

AMLO, or Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico, takes the long view, and so does the Mexican populace, in the face of insults and other perhaps spontaneous diplomatic communiques conveyed by tweet. As the 13th largest economy in the world, expected soon to be the eighth, they have big enough plans not to take the bait.

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