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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Tag Archives: Responsibility to Protect
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
2 Comments
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
UNSC Resolution 1973: Too Little, Too Late?
Last night the United Nations Security Council passed a robust and far reaching Resolution in response to the situation in Libya. Whatever happens from here this is an important moment in the life of the United Nations. There is no … Continue reading
Having Second Thoughts About a No Fly Zone Over Libya?
With the fighting in Libya now entering its third week, international pressure has slowly but steadily mounted for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya. Previous reluctance about getting involved in Libya has given way to a sense that … Continue reading
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
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
