American Diplomat
Summary: American Diplomat goes behind the scenes to hear real stories from diplomats who lived newsworthy events overseas. Experience the Cuban revolution, Central American insurgencies, the end of apartheid and more through the eyes of those who were there. A project of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation in partnership with the American Academy of Diplomacy.
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- Artist: Ambassador (Retired) Pete Romero and Writer/Producer Laura Bennett
- Copyright: American Diplomat 2017
Podcasts:
Reporting from fictional Sulandia, a skill that can be developed. Dorothy Mayhew and Michael Gray, diplomats who teach at The Foreign Service Institute, lead the way. Plus bonus info on the life of a State Department cable: What is it? Who writes it and who reads it? What is its impact?
Are Foreign Service Officers made or born that way? And what, exactly, is a "demarche"? A tour through basic training, Foreign Service style, with Dorothy Mayhew and Michael Gray.
Pete and Laura's recent appearance on SiriusXM with host Eric Ham, bookended by discussion of the psychology of frustration, even humiliation, that can lead whole populations to support strongmen.
Bob Blake offers an alternative to genocide, but his help is refused. How similar is the tragedy in Sri Lanka to the current crisis in Myanmar?
Want to go to jail in Sri Lanka today? Just mention the Tamil Tigers in a positive manner and you will be on trial. That's how upset people still are about the war that ended almost ten years ago. Bob Blake unpacks this time of terror in Sri Lanka.
Sandy Vershbow, US Ambassador to Russia 2002-2005, recounts Putin's gradual seizure of power over more and more of the Russian State, leaving ordinary Russians with little, if any, voice in the policies that affect their lives.
Conditions precedent and the rise of populist autocrat Putin, via Sandy Vershbow, US Ambassador to Russia, 2001-2005. Plus bonus Russian hit song "One Like Putin". Your internal soundscape may never be the same. The second country in American Diplomat's series, "Is It Happening Here?"
Pete visits the Huarani Indians, botches up a boar hunt, drinks the mystery drink chicha, and receives upon his departure a marriage proposal, ambiguously addressed either to himself one of the other fine young gringos. Follows first episode, titled "Cowboys and Indian at the Embassy."
"Embassy death squads? Sure, I made that up!" ~ Moi, Huarani Indian and tribal ambassador
Trade, demystified. And accompanied by a stiff drink. Plus bonus song "Soybeans!" Shaun Donnelly tells all.
Once elected, how does Chavez systematically seize control of the politics and economy of his country, and how does this erode Fulano's choices and way of life?
Brian Naranjo describes life for a middle-class voter during the lead-up to the election of Hugo Chavez, a former coup plotter who becomes the elected dictator of Venezuela. This is the first episode in a series within American Diplomat titled, "Is it happening here?"
Pete and Laura introduce a new series within American Diplomat, in which they talk with diplomats who witnessed the beginning phases of democracy's doom and who can tell the story from the perspective of the individual voter who unwittingly elected a dictator.
A social media battleground for hearts and minds in Venezuela, an American in prison on false charges of espionage and terrorism, and a prison riot. Brian Naranjo puts his neck way out there to protect Joshua Holt.
Venezuela today: People are starving and the currency is almost worthless. The government is stealing as much as it can and destroying democratic institutions. The message to American diplomats: Welcome to Venezuela, let me show you the door.
