Briefings. Notes. Clues.

Because diplomacy rarely leaves fingerprints
but always leaves traces.

Victory’s Price — Netanyahu’s Faustian Pact with Trump

He got the war he wanted—but not the control. When the bunker-busting bombs dropped on Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, a decades-old Israeli wish was fulfilled—not by Tel Aviv, but by Washington. Under Trump’s command, America

The War That Wants to Happen and Just Did

1. The Illusion Dies First Wars used to start with declarations. Now they begin with deniability, misdirection, and carefully worded truths. The emerging war between Israel and Iran—with the United States now fully engaged—is not

The Rules of Retaliation

Israel, Iran, and the End of Strategic Ambiguity 1. Act One: The Unwritten Rulebook For decades, the Middle East has operated under a brutal yet oddly stable formula: provoke, deny, retaliate, and contain. Israel hit

Elegantly Undone: How Democracies Collapse in Silence

“The velvet autocrat doesn’t break laws. He writes new ones.” Democracy, as it turns out, does not need to be shot in the street. It can be chloroformed quietly in its sleep – no blood,

Can the West Still Learn?

The West believed it had history figured out. But the Global South stopped waiting—and started building. Mahbubani doesn’t want apologies. He wants adaptation. A briefing from inside the machinery, when the engine starts to fail.

Nigeria: The Giant That Talks While Others Move

A clear-eyed briefing on Nigeria’s enduring ambition, growing economy, and shrinking strategic relevance—seen through the lens of diplomatic reality.

Is it a New World, or is it just a New Angle?

When we last looked around in January, the second inauguration of Donald Trump already seemed like a significant geopolitical tremor.

The Hidden Costs of Green Technologies

The energy transition is no longer a future vision but a widely accepted necessity. Electric vehicles, wind power, solar panels – the instruments of transformation are already in place. Yet even as the direction is

Ten Years Later: Rise of the Robots Revisited

Ten years after Rise of the Robots, we revisit Martin Ford’s bold predictions about automation, AI, and the end of work. What came true, what didn’t — and why the slow collapse of the middle

DiplomacyBites – because diplomacy often bites.

I’ve spent decades in the foreign service. Sat through the briefings. Attended the summits. Listened to the speeches. Written some of them. Watched governments pretend, collapse, reinvent themselves, and repeat the cycle—always with a slogan