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: February 2011
Libya and the Limits of British Foreign and Defence Policy
Libya appears to be on the edge of a precipice – teetering between the imminent overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi and a slow descent into a bloody and protracted civil war. Governments around the world have been slow to recognise that … Continue reading
Posted in Africa
Tagged Britain's Role in the World, Colonel Gaddafi, Libya, Responsibility to Protect, United Nations
2 Comments
Photo Essay: The Bloody Colonel – Our Trusted Friend of Old
With Colonel Gaddafi struggling violently to cling to power in Libya, this photo is one that Tony Blair would dearly love to see consigned to a card board box in the attic. The picture captures Blair’s controversial visit to Libya … Continue reading
Posted in Photo Essay
Tagged Arms Trade, Britain's Role in the World, Colonel Gaddafi, David Cameron, Middle East, Royal Shell, Tony Blair
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Taking a Historical Look at Revolution and its Discontents
If like me you have had found the events of recent weeks in the Middle East and North Africa enthralling but confusing then you might find the following Foreign Policy essay from David Bell helpful. Professor David Bell David Bell … Continue reading
Posted in Middle East
Tagged David Bell, French Revolution, Glorious Revolution, Jasmine Revolution, Middle East
3 Comments
Libya: Whatever Happened to the Chicago Principles and our International Responsibility To Protect?
Even with media access to Libya seriously restricted pictures emerging from the country are shocking in the extreme. Even without the pictures the inflammatory language used by Colonel Gaddafi leaves one in no doubt that even though his grip on … Continue reading
Posted in Africa
Tagged Chicago Doctrine, Colonel Gaddafi, HMS Cumberland, Libya, Responsibility to Protect, Tony Blair, United Nations
7 Comments
Religious Freedom and the EU
Writing about Europe can seriously damage your blog stats. The exception is if you write about the EU and its reluctance to robustly defend the persecuted Church in the Middle East, in which case your stats rise significantly. Well, that … Continue reading
Posted in Europe
Tagged Catherine Ashton, Europe, Foreign Affairs Council, Middle East, Religous Freedom, Tea Party Movement, The EU
6 Comments
David Cameron, Swiss Cheese and the EU Referendum Bill
Last week’s visit to Brussels gave me the opportunity to explore non-British attitudes to the EU Referendum Bill that is currently being debated by Parliament. It takes a brave man to mention this Bill in the hallowed corridors of the … Continue reading
Posted in Europe
Tagged Britain's Role in the World, David Cameron, EU, EU Referendum Bill, Europe, Switzerland
4 Comments
Photo Essay: Happy Birthday, Dear Leader
With authoritarian regimes crumbling accross the Middle East, this week it was business as usual in North Korea as Kim Jung Il celebarted his 70th birthday. The official story is that Kim Jung Il came into the world on a mythical mountaintop … Continue reading
Post Card from Brussels
When visiting Brussels as a student of European politics back in the 1990s I was often struck by how much of the city felt like a building site. The physical geography of the city was constantly changing with new EU … Continue reading
Georgia – Navigating an Uncertain Path Between Order and Chaos in Europe
I’m back on the Eurostar this morning, this time for a round of meetings in Brussels, some ecumenical but others EU related. This visit comes fresh on the heals of a fraternal visit by his Holiness Ilya II, the Catholicos Patriarch … Continue reading
