Tijuana: What Could Go Wrong?
Assault, conviction, life and death across borders. US Citizen Services, with courage and commitment, helps Americans abroad in every imaginable conundrum. Kate Canavan shares her tales.
Jun 14, 2018•22 min
American Diplomat
American Diplomat goes behind the scenes to hear real stories from diplomats who lived newsworthy events overseas. Experience the Cuban revolution, Central American insurgencies, the end of apartheid and more through the eyes of those who were there. A project of Arizona State University.
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Episodes
Go With God, Children!
Cherie and John Feeley find a way to care for a child with learning differences in Columbia, a country riven by violence from insurgencies and narco trafficking.
Jun 07, 2018•23 min
Little Elian Gonzalez
Poor Elian! He's left Cuba with his mom, who has now drowned. Possibly aided by dolphins, he arrives alone on the shores of Florida, to be made into perhaps the youngest pawn ever to be used in international and domestic policy wars.
Jun 01, 2018•27 min
Fidel's Eyes Are Everywhere, and Cuba's Special Period
Surveillance can be good - if you need a potato, just ask. But if you're a Marine, be careful! And what made Cuba's Special Period in Time of Peace so special? Deprivation, starvation and flight. Vicki Huddleston connects the dots and helps us understand our relationship with Cuba today.
May 25, 2018•37 min
Fidel and Our Woman in Havana
Vicki Huddleston spars with Castro, as one of the few women in senior roles in the State Department, and one of the only people who actually stood up to the dictator.
May 18, 2018•22 min
John Feeley & the FARC: Colombia's Guerilla Revolutionaries
Feeley visits FARC guerrillas and records the group's fantastical vision of world leadership, and upon his return is faced with politicized accusations of negotiating with terrorists.
May 11, 2018•25 min
Iran Deal - Wendy Sherman Negotiates
The Iran nuclear deal explained. What was it, and how did our chief negotiator Wendy Sherman help make it happen?
May 09, 2018•22 min
John Feeley - Panama Papers
Feeley's ambassadorship begins with the leak of the Panama Papers, a trove of documents exposing massive international financial fraud. When the US is accused of orchestrating the leak, what's an ambassador to do? Video diplomacy is born.
May 04, 2018•33 min
Andrew Albertson - Three Explosions in Afghanistan
From an evangelical upbringing, Albertson studies in Kenya and then devotes his life to international development. He survives three bombs in Afghanistan while working with USAID, and now leads the diplomacy advocacy organization Foreign Policy for America.
Apr 27, 2018•17 min
Gina Winstanley, Oman and Saudi Arabia
Do you know where to find a hooker in Oman? Go to the hospital! And what happens when your boss nixes your husband's job choice in Saudi Arabia, and you are intent on preserving your marriage? Reposted from October 2017
Apr 20, 2018•26 min
Jonathan Addleton - The Dust of Kandahar
Addleton shares his haunting experience as the only one left standing after a suicide bomber attacks his party while visiting a school in Afghanistan. Was it worth it?
Apr 13, 2018•18 min
Ajani Husbands - Islamabad and Port Au Prince
In places like Pakistan where governments may not be friendly, cultural diplomacy, a form of "soft power", is power indeed. And in Haiti, Husbands gains the nickname, "dread la ki te refize m '," or "the dread who refused me."
Apr 06, 2018•30 min
Desiree Cormier - Africa and Tijuana
How does diplomacy help stem a public health crisis like Ebola? And what can a diplomat do (and not do) to help Americans in Mexican prison?
Mar 22, 2018•30 min
Desiree Cormier - Creole, Colored or Black?
Cormier, raised in part by her civil rights activist grandfather, identifies as African American, or, black. So why does everyone in Pretoria tell her she's not black at all, but instead, "colored"? And how does she persuade our government to stop considering Nelson Mandela a terrorist? Also hear how she comes to dance to Pata Pata during Barack Obama's state visit.
Mar 16, 2018•29 min
Robert Blake - Sri Lanka, Terror Escalates
Secrecy, executions, and human shields in Sri Lanka. Our diplomats make a difference in thousands of people's lives.
Mar 08, 2018•29 min
Robert Blake - Terror in Sri Lanka
Who are the Tamil Tigers? Hint: This is no baseball team and they aren't playing ball.
Feb 28, 2018•28 min
Pete Romero - Plan Colombia, Part 2
Crisis averted: Where there might have been massive flight, and/or a narco state, Colombia instead enjoys stability and prosperity amid a new peace agreement.
Feb 23, 2018•36 min
Pete Romero - Plan Colombia, Part 1
Cocaleros, paramilitaries, a dirty war and a failing state in Colombia.
Feb 15, 2018•26 min
Wendy Sherman - Iran Deal
She wasn't Wendy Sherman or a woman or a Jewish American. She was the United States of America.
Feb 07, 2018•21 min
Wendy Sherman - Baltimore to Pyongyang
An unwavering belief in public service propels Wendy Sherman from local activist to international negotiator.
Feb 01, 2018•26 min
Charles Ray - Golf with a Dictator
Putting pedophiles in prison with the help of one of the world's most loathed autocrats.
Jan 25, 2018•33 min
Charles Ray - Zimbabwe's Authoritarian
Zimbabwe's elected authoritarian, Robert Mugabe, seen from a human perspective.
Jan 18, 2018•29 min
Charles English - Murder-Suicide in Guyana
Charles English, 26 and new to the Foreign Service, is among the first American officials on the scene of the Jonestown massacre in 1978.
Jan 11, 2018•32 min
Mike Senko - Grenades and Guns
Mike Senko describes rocket-propelled grenades exploding outside his office, driving a car at gunpoint, and the reason Foreign Service Officers volunteer to take these risks.
Jan 04, 2018•22 min
Tom Miller - Soldiers Without Weapons
Tom Miller discusses the decapitation of Greece's November 17 terrorist group, and reminds us that life in the Foreign Service can be very dangerous.
Dec 27, 2017•24 min
Tom Miller - Drugs and Thugs
Tom Miller assists refugees and reports on the opium and heroin trade in Asia's golden triangle. A close friend is murdered in retaliation for DEA success.
Dec 21, 2017•27 min
Dennis Jett on Lori Berenson and Why He Joined the Foreign Service
Jett explains that many Americans are not aware that other countries' laws apply to them, and shares the personal rewards of a Foreign Service career.
Dec 13, 2017•24 min
Dennis Jett and Liberia's Civil War
Dennis Jett describes three warring factions in Liberia, evacuations and a flotilla of Marines off the African coast.
Dec 06, 2017•28 min
Ron Neumann - Vietnam to Afghanistan
From Vietnam to Afghanistan, from infantry to embassy - how were these two wars the same, and how were they different? How does a military background inform an ambassador's work?
Nov 28, 2017•28 min
Lino Gutierrez - Part 2
Service in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua, all leading up to plans for US immigration reform that are stopped short by 9/11.
Nov 22, 2017•24 min
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