Tribalism: Who is "other"? Ambassador Bob Beecroft recalls the atrocities in the Balkans of the late ‘90s, after which DNA tests revealed that the victims and the perpetrators of “ethnic cleansing” were no different from one another genetically. The question then becomes, who do we see as “other”, and why do we see them as threats?  Does any of this apply to the US?

A Million Downloads! Yes, you did it for us. Here to celebrate with us is ASU President Michael Crow. Think vision meets design meets global reach. The goal?  Access and energize the full level of human potential.  

The Houthis: Who actually are these people? And Yemen: What is this place?  Is it really a country? Yemen is engaged in a two-fronted, 10-year civil war, and this began long before the war in Gaza. Does Iran control the Houthis?  (Hint: far from it.) And why this business with the shipping lanes? Join us as Ambassador Jerry Feierstein brings us up to speed on this deceptively simple maelstrom of forces at play affecting our diplomacy in a region where the stakes are higher now than they have been in years.

Young foreign service officer Hermanoschy Bernard joins us in honor of Black History Month to share his story of flight from his native Haiti as a child to life in the US as a political asylee, where he turned obstacles into opportunities and achieved his dream of becoming a public servant, inspired originally by the consular officer who listened to his case with empathy and helped him and his family emigrate to safety. 

Ambassador Richard Boucher joins us to contextualize Taiwan's recent election in its deliberately ambiguous relationship with mainland China.  No big news is good news as Taiwan preserves its integrity by not declaring its overt independence, a lesson learned in Hong Kong.  The wild card?  Xi Jinping.

Frank Mora, US Ambassador to the Organization of American States, helps us understand a diplomatic win: the (barely) peaceful transfer of power following Guatemala’s election of an outsider who is a threat to the corrupt establishment. Expectations are high, that the new president will both confront those who resist change - who have done much to thwart the transfer of power - and promote inclusive governance. Que viva la democracia!

Amb. Tony Wayne is back to go into depth on the US-Mexico border’s two greatest challenges.  How did drug trafficking become even more sinister than it was before?  And can we improve the immigration crisis ahead of the upcoming US election?  What is at stake and what will it take, diplomatically and otherwise, to solve these issues?

Did you know that $1.5M dollars in trade cross the US/Mexico border every single minute?  Did you know that 5 million US jobs depend on the trade that takes place there?  Ambassador Tony Wayne explains that the border is a living membrane and trust is the crux of managing conflicting interests and mutual challenges.  Lethal synthetic drugs are very small!  How do you intercept them on their way north?  And how do you stop the transfer of deadly weapons to the south?  And human lives – people around the entire world are on the move, and where do many land?  On the US/Mexico border.  Ambassador Wayne helps us understand this complex place.  Part one of two.

Cybercrime has many names but what, actually, is it?  Jim Lewis, former Foreign Service Officer, now Senior Vice President and Director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, gives us a candid description of cybercrime's mechanics: who does it, why, how, and what is the impact of these activities on global democracy and security?  What is the role of diplomacy in managing these unprecedented military, intelligence, economic and political threats?  Join us for an close look under the hood of cybercrime.

Pete and Laura close the year with reflections on the diplomatic successes in 2023 that helped create a more peaceful and sustainable world.  Global events have offered up a lot to fear recently, but it wasn't all bad!  Happy New Year from American Diplomat.