Nikki Haley insisted all along that she had no desire to become Donald Trump’s secretary of state. But with Mike Pompeo, the CIA director, in line to succeed Rex Tillerson as the State Department’s top dog, Haley may soon find that her thinking was a big mistake. Haley asked Trump right from the start not … Read more
A record number of staff members have quit, resigned or been fired by the administration of Donald Trump during its first year, roughly at a rate of one in three — a sieve unseen in the previous five White Houses, according to a recent report from the Brookings Institution. As a matter of fact, Trump … Read more
In Washington, there is no question that the State Department is in a weakened position, a situation that the Trump White House — and the Trump family — seem to relish. To some in the understaffed, stripped-down Foreign Service and to commentators on United States foreign policy, this is a disgrace linked directly to Secretary … Read more
A new women, peace and security index was unveiled at the United Nations recently. At its core, the WPS index, as it is known, provides evidence for what advocates have been saying all along: that the active and equal participation of women in all aspects of society is critical for peace and security, especially in … Read more
The countdown to Donald Trump’s first speech at the United Nations as United States president has begun. What is known: on Sept. 19 in the General Assembly Hall, Trump will step at the lectern in front of the green marble wall he has disparaged in the past and deliver a speech roughly 15 minutes long. … Read more
Donald Trump will have his third chance this October to weigh in on Iranian compliance with the international nuclear agreement reached by Tehran in 2015 with the United States and five other world powers. The United States Congress requires the president to certify every 90 days that Iran is observing the pact’s terms, and Trump … Read more
Nikki Haley is one lucky Trump appointee. Sure, sure, it’s a great honor to be a public servant, especially when you’re way up at the top. But the GOP wastes no love on the United Nations; Republican presidents can take years to realize that it can prove pretty useful every once in a while. So … Read more
Nearly six months into her United Nations assignment, Ambassador Nikki Haley is aligning herself more decisively with President Donald Trump, defending some of his most controversial and unpopular moves. It is a critical diplomatic time for the White House and for Haley, who is viewed around the UN mostly as a politician with big ambitions … Read more
When the White House sent its proposed 2018 budget to the United States Congress on May 23, it was apparent that not only would a hawkish, nationalistic focus on military expenditures come at the cost of international aid and support for the United Nations. Worse, the Trump plan would also sideline discussions on global issues, … Read more
Amid the predominantly Francophone region in West Africa is tiny Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea, a country blessed — or cursed — with vast oil reserves. For most of its independent life, the country has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has the distinction of being the longest-serving nonroyal head of state in the … Read more
If Nikki Haley is dressing for attention, honestly, it would be hard to fault her. One of the few women named to President Trump’s administration, Haley, a former governor of South Carolina who is the ambassador to the United Nations, has been set adrift in a different region of the country, in foreign policy for … Read more
In just a few weeks, the United Nations is convening a world gathering to discuss the health of the world’s oceans and seas, with member states, government and nongovernmental organizations, corporations and members of the scientific community and academia signed up to take part. Yet while representatives from America’s private sector and academic community — … Read more
Speaking to the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on North Korea held at the foreign-minister level, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked member countries to join the United States in a strong campaign to enhance pressures on the Kim Jong Un regime, whose rapidly developing nuclear and missile programs have reached dangerous levels. The … Read more
