James Morrison
Articles by James Morrison
Embassy Row: Czech condolences
The Czech ambassador is repeating himself: The Czech Republic is not absolutely not Chechnya. Published April 21, 2013
Embassy Row: Time for a change
Voters in Paraguay have a chance to solidify democracy Sunday in a presidential election that pits a candidate from a political party that governed for more than six decades against a hopeful from a party that currently holds the presidency, according to a former U.S. ambassador to the South American country. Published April 18, 2013
Embassy Row: Diplomats distressed
The Saudi ambassador was among the first diplomats in Washington to publicly condemn the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon. Published April 16, 2013
Embassy Row: Poland protests film
The Polish ambassador in Washington is angered over plans by a Chicago-based film distributor to market a German movie that portrays Polish resistance fighters in World War II as greedy anti-Semites. Published April 14, 2013
Embassy Row: Azeris shut university
The American ambassador in Azerbaijan is raising an alarm over the government's closure of a U.S.-funded university dedicated to democracy and human rights in a Central Asian nation widely denounced for crushing political opposition. Published April 11, 2013
Embassy Row: First impression
The U.S. Embassy in London found her "imperious" and "patronizing," with a "quick, if not profound, mind" and "frightfully English to boot." Published April 9, 2013
Embassy Row: Sorry, David Letterman
Funny man David Letterman wants to be an ambassador. Seriously. He particularly would like to be the U.S. envoy to Canada. Published April 7, 2013
Embassy Row: ‘A failing state’
A former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan is worried that the nuclear-armed South Asian nation could collapse as a growing number of Islamic terrorists are targeting soldiers, civilians and government officials. Published April 4, 2013
Embassy Row: What does Obama want?
Russian President Vladimir Putin is so confused by President Obama's muddled policy toward Syria that he sought advice from a political opponent who served as Moscow's ambassador in Washington 20 years ago. Vladimir Lukin, now Russia's human rights commissioner, told an audience in Moscow on Tuesday that Mr. Putin approached him last week. Published April 2, 2013
Embassy Row: Korea’s new course
South Korea's new conservative president is planning to dispatch a career diplomat as her ambassador to the United States to help manage a bilateral trade deal, while sending a different signal to China and Japan by naming close political supporters as envoys to those neighboring countries. Published March 31, 2013
Embassy Row: America’s interests
The U.S. ambassador in London lectured British voters this week on what he says is their responsibility to keep the United Kingdom within the European Union, despite rising popular support for pulling out of the 27-nation federation. Published March 28, 2013
Embassy Row: Double standards
A Hungarian official is complaining about U.S. criticism of his government's presentation of an award to a journalist accused of anti-Semitic rants, this just weeks after the State Department nearly gave a human rights prize to an Egyptian activist who denounced Jews and praised Islamic terrorists. Published March 26, 2013
Embassy Row: ‘Nighmare’ in Syria’
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee believes the Obama administration has been "adrift" for the past two years in its policy toward Syria, but he realizes the White House has "no good options" in the civil war between President Bashar Assad and rebels with a strong Islamic jihadist element. Published March 24, 2013
Embassy Row: Obama’s diplomacy
President Obama defined his approach to dealing with dictators in his first inaugural address, telling tyrants he would "extend a hand" if they unclench their fists. Published March 21, 2013
Embassy Row: Twitter trauma
Nigeria is miffed at U.S. criticism of its president after he pardoned a politician convicted of corruption and of the Nigerian army's response to terrorist attacks in the oil-rich West African nation. Published March 19, 2013
Embassy Row: Jihad and cyberwar
President Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan is "strategically risky and threatens to plunge" the region back into a safe haven for terrorists, a top House Republican said as he announced plans for a congressional hearing this week. Published March 17, 2013
Embassy Row: Prison camp Liberty
Iranian dissidents in the U.S. are preparing for the Persian New Year with a major push in Washington for the removal of the brutal, theocratic regime in Iran and for the relocation of 3,000 Iranian refugees confined to a squalid camp in Iraq where they are targeted by pro-Iranian terrorists. Published March 14, 2013
Embassy Row: Don’t raze me, Broh
Lawmakers in Liberia are outraged by strongly worded comments from the U.S. ambassador, who complained about sexist actions by the legislature over a wild political scandal involving the corruption-fighting female former acting mayor of the capital. Published March 12, 2013
Embassy Row: Nigeria’s diversity
Nigeria is rich in oil and plagued by ethnic violence, but the U.S. ambassador there praises "diversity," not energy, as the West African nation's "greatest asset." Published March 10, 2013
Embassy Row: Politically motivated in Ukraine
The United States this week denounced Ukraine for stripping a lawyer of his seat in parliament because he serves as a defense attorney for Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is dubiously imprisoned for malfeasance in office and now also facing murder charges. Published March 7, 2013
