About this blog
Welcome to my blog - I'm Charles Reed and I advise the Church of England on foreign policy issues.
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention.
This is a conversational blog so please join in as your comments are an essential part of making the whole thing work.
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Monthly Archives: November 2010
Is Football Coming Home?
With the Korean Peninsula on the brink of a war and negotiators in Cancun working late into the night to try to save the planet, David Cameron will today fly to Zurich for the start of intensive negotiations to help bring … Continue reading
Is the Middle East Peace Process Dead or Merely Dying?
2011 is slated to be an important crossroads in the Middle East peace process in view of the anticipated completion of the Palestinian National Authority’s two-year plan for Palestinian state building by August next year, and the subsequent expiry of … Continue reading
For the sake of Climate Change do we Need to Abandon the UN Negotiating Process?
A year after the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, negotiators will reconvene on Monday this time in Cancun, Mexico for the start of two weeks of talks on climate change. Will Cancun succeed where Copenhagen failed? What are the stumbling … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change
Tagged Cancun, Climate Change, Copenhagen, UNFCCC, United Nations
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The Korean Peninsula – The Land of No Good Choices
Writing from the embassy in Seoul, Martin Uden, Britain’s Ambassador to South Korea, captures beautifully in his blog the bizarre and disturbing events of recent days. 22 November started like any other day for the Ambassador but it ended with the … Continue reading
Christian Aid gets in Touch with its Feminine Side
Christian Aid’s AGM today was an opportunity to see for the first time the new Director and Chair in action and to assess how CA is responding to the changes at No10. Over the last 18 months CA has gone through major … Continue reading
Posted in Development
Tagged Christian Aid, Dame Anne Owers, International Development, Loretta Minghella
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What Future NATO? – The Bishop of Wakefield Reflects on the NATO Summit
After my post last Thursday on the prospects for the forthcoming NATO summit in Lisbon, the Rt Revd Stephen Platten, the Bishop of Wakefield and the lead bishop on international security affairs, offers his own expert reflections on the subject. These … Continue reading
Posted in NATO
Tagged Bishop of Wakefield, Church of England, Georgia, Just War, NATO, Stephen Platten, Strategic Concept
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The Day After Tomorrow: The Final Battle in the War Against Poverty?
The global financial crisis of 2008-09 changed not only the global order, but also the way we think about that order. Principles and practices that were once accepted wisdom are now in doubt or discredited. New and fundamental questions have … Continue reading
NATO Summit – Do we Need to Rethink our Understanding of Collective Self-Defence?
NATO leaders are currently meeting in Lisbon with the aim of agreeing a new Strategic Concept for the Alliance. The current Strategic Concept dates from 1999 and looks increasingly frayed round the edges. The best way to explain why NATO … Continue reading
Christians in Iraq – are we being hypocritical?
Over the course of the last week or so there has been a spate of killings of Christians in Baghdad. This has seen the Archbishop of Canterbury issue a number of press releases and statements drawing attention to the vulnerability … Continue reading
Posted in Iraq
Tagged Archbishop of Canterbury, Iraqi Christians, Religious Freedom, Robin Lustig
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David Cameron and the Lord Mayor’s Banquet – A Business Like Approach to British Foreign Policy
Fresh from his visit to the Far East David Cameron last night gave the Prime Minister’s annual foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in London. Central to his speech was the claim that British’s position in the world, … Continue reading
