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.
My Books
Category Archives: British Foreign Policy
Europe and its Budget – The Need for a New Sapir Report
On Thursday of this week leaders of EU countries hold a two-day summit in Brussels to decide on the Union’s budget for 2014 to 2020, broadly determining how much the EU can spend, what it should be spent on, and … Continue reading
Posted in British Foreign Policy, Europe
Tagged Budget Reform, David Cameron, EU, Europe, Sapir Report
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Breaking up is hard to do
British politics is a funny old business at the best of times, but this week has been particularly odd and we are only just half way through. Monday saw Alex Salmonds, the Scottish First Minister, and David Cameron, the British Prime … Continue reading
Posted in British Foreign Policy, Europe
Tagged Alex Salmonds, David Cameron, EU, EU Referendum, Europe, Scottish Inderpendence, Theresa May
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Prospects for Peace in Syria
What are the prospects for peace in Syria? Is there a non-violent way out of this crisis? These might appear daft questions to ask when the conflict is spiralling so destructively out of control. But, it is precisely because the … Continue reading
Posted in British Foreign Policy, Defence, Middle East
Tagged Community of Sant Egidio, Middle East, Russia, Syria
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Being Foreign Secretary for the day – preventing another Houla?
Our response to the grotesque massacre in Houla, Syria, suggests a despairing awareness that short of military intervention, which no one wants, there is little we can do to resolve the emerging sectarian civil war. My own view is that while an … Continue reading
Posted in British Foreign Policy, Ecumenism, Middle East
Tagged Houla, Lebanon, President Assad, Responsibility to Protect, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, sanctions, Syria
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Rethinking our power and influence in a network centred world
William Hague is due to arrive in Moscow today to discuss the civilian massacres in Syria with the country’s closest Security Council ally. At the same time the UN Security Council has convened an emergency session to discuss what the … Continue reading
Posted in British Foreign Policy, Ecumenism
Tagged G-Zero World, Russian Orthodox Church, Syria, United Nations, William Hague
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Human Rights and Democracy – An Incomplete Story
The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, launched today the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2011 Human Rights and Democracy Report. Weighing in at 388 pages it’s a meaty affair. Even though I don’t agree with everything in the Report, the Report’s very … Continue reading
Modernity and its futures?
Trawl the shelves of any respectable bookshop today and you will find a growing body of literature expounding the now well trodden thesis that China’s rise inevitably means the West’s demise. To be fair scholars have been exploring this possibility for … Continue reading
Posted in British Foreign Policy, Europe, Middle East
Tagged Charles Kupchan; Modernity, Islam, Middle East
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The Cost of Honouring the Military Covenant
Yesterday in Parliament Peers considered in Grand Committee the Armed Forces Bill. Most of the amendments under consideration, including that by the Bishop of Wakefield, related to Clause 2 and how the Bill’s provisions regarding the Military Covenant might best … Continue reading
Is it time to take responsibility for our past collusion in Libya?
The British government once again finds itself at the centre of a political storm regarding its past collusion with a very unpleasant regime. In a statement in the House of Commons yesterday the Prime Minister stated that “our relationship with … Continue reading
Photo Essay: The Coalition One Year
This week’s photo essay takes us back a year to the press conference in the gardens of No 10 where David Cameron and Nick Clegg launched the Coalition Government. One year on what are we to make of the … Continue reading
