James Morrison
Articles by James Morrison
Embassy Row: India strikes back over diplomat’s arrest
India retaliated Tuesday over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York with a grab bag of punitive measures against U.S. diplomats, from demanding details on the pay of their domestic help to curtailing the import of liquor to the U.S. Embassy to making unspecified threats against gay diplomats, citing a Supreme Court ruling last week that makes homosexual acts a crime. Published December 17, 2013
Embassy Row: India ‘shocked,’ ‘appalled’ by consular officer’s arrest
The arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York is souring relations between Washington and New Delhi, as India expresses "outrage" over the detention and handcuffing of a consular officer while she was dropping off her daughter at a school in Manhattan. Published December 15, 2013
Embassy Row: Wife of Christian held in Iran feels abandoned by Obama
The wife of an Iranian-American Christian jailed in Iran called on President Obama to demand her husband's release Thursday, the 444th day of his captivity, and to link the Iranian nuclear deal to his freedom. Published December 12, 2013
Wife of jailed U.S. Christian in Iran calls for White House help
The wife of an American Christian jailed in Iran called on President Obama to demand her husband's release Thursday, the 444th day of his captivity, and to link the Iranian nuclear deal to his freedom. Published December 12, 2013
Most Americans want no Iranian uranium enrichment: poll
The majority of Americans on both sides of the political aisle agree that Iran's nuclear program, whether for energy or weapons, is the biggest threat facing the United States in the Middle East, a new poll shows. Published December 11, 2013
Senate debate: Is Santa Claus an American citizen?
Is Santa Claus an American citizen? That question came up during a hearing Wednesday at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, as Sen. Robert Menendez quizzed Bruce Heyman on his nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to Canada. Published December 11, 2013
Comma on!: Twitter erupts over Obama-Castro ‘marriage’
Was there something more behind that warm handshake between President Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro? Published December 11, 2013
Embassy Row: Hostage location classified
Secretary of State John F. Kerry surprised members of Congress on Tuesday by revealing that the whereabouts of seven Iranian dissidents kidnapped in a deadly raid on a refugee camp in Iraq is classified. Published December 10, 2013
House introduces resolution to honor Nelson Mandela
Even in death, Nelson Mandela is bringing political opponents together, as a bipartisan group of House members introduced a resolution Monday to honor his legacy. Published December 9, 2013
Iranian exiles call for probe of Camp Ashraf attack
Iranian dissidents Monday marked the 100th day since gunmen killed 52 Iranians in an Iraqi refugee camp, as U.N. officials warned that Iraq is violating human rights treaties by failing to account for seven hostages kidnapped in the Sept. 1 raid. Published December 9, 2013
Embassy Row: ‘What a tragedy,’ African diplomat says of Mandela’s death
The most senior foreign ambassador in the U.S. had just returned to Washington from a trip when a reporter informed him that Nelson Mandela had died. "Oh! What a tragedy! What a tragedy! What a tragedy!' exclaimed Ambassador Roble Olhaye of the African nation of Djibouti. Published December 8, 2013
Embassy Row: Israeli at the White House in another Golda moment
Forty years after legendary Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir held talks with Richard M. Nixon at the White House, another Israeli citizen named Golda met an American president. Published December 5, 2013
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, dies at age 95
Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for his armed militancy against South Africa's apartheid regime only to emerge as a global icon for peaceful resistance and become his nation's first black president, died Thursday in Johannesburg after a long illness. He was 95. Published December 5, 2013
Russian diplomats busted bilking $1.5 million from Medicaid
Federal prosecutors have charged 49 Russian diplomats and their spouses with cheating Medicaid out of $1.5 million, which some of them used on shopping sprees at Tiffany's and Bloomingdale's in New York. Published December 5, 2013
Huh? ‘Universal word’ signals total confusion wherever you go
What’s in a word? Quite a lot, if the word is “huh?” Published December 4, 2013
Sen. Ben Cardin hits Ukraine for crackdown on Kiev protests
The chairman of a congressional human rights panel Wednesday condemned the crackdown on pro-Western protesters in Ukraine on the eve of an international civil rights conference in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, gripped in a showdown between riot police and thousands of demonstrators. Published December 4, 2013
Embassy Row: Daughters plead to China, ‘Let our fathers go’
The daughters of five Chinese political prisoners are planning to use a congressional hearing Thursday to send a message to the communist authorities who have locked up their dads. Published December 3, 2013
With Monroe Doctrine dead, Obama to host Latin American leader
President Obama meets Tuesday with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos — the first Latin American leader to visit the White House since Secretary of State John F. Kerry declared the death of the Monroe Doctrine. Published December 2, 2013
Embassy Row: ‘Zero is not an option’ in Afghanistan
The U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan is prodding President Hamid Karzai to sign an agreement to allow U.S. troops to remain in the nation after 2014. Published December 1, 2013
Embassy Row: Canada strong and free
In the words of its national anthem, Canada is standing strong and free against the Iranian nuclear agreement engineered by the Obama administration. Published November 28, 2013