FLORENCE: At the recent annual meetings of the American Economic Association, there was widespread pessimism about the future of the United States. “The age of American predominance is over,” declared one economist. “The US should brace for social (...)
FLORENCE: Dean Acheson, US President Harry Truman's Secretary of State, liked to quote a friend who said that being in government made him scared, but that being out of it made him worried. To those of us not privy to the hidden complexities of (...)
FLORENCE: There is much talk in the air - especially in Britain and the US - about reinventing diplomacy for the 21st century. Both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Tories' leader David Cameron have spoken of a new synthesis of (...)
FLORENCE: US President Barack Obama's administration has lost little time in announcing that it will seek direct talks with the Iranian government.
This means, at the very least, a tough confrontation over Iran's quest for a regional strategic (...)