Some pictures on various themes.
Chrissy and me at Uno
Chrissy and me at Uno Pizza. I like the place better than she does, but indulged me there.
Too much beer
Next is me with Willy Morgan. I took the opportunity to buy him a couple beers to celebrate his imminent retirement. Funny thing, I drank three beers. That’s all. That is more than my usual one or two, but not that much. But I stumbled home. Lucky I took the Metro and did not drive. Maybe the alcohol content was higher. One problem with craft beer is that the alcohol content varies, so you cannot just count.
State Department’s birthday
State Department celebrated its 230th birthday yesterday. I went to part of the festivities. Mike Pompeo made an excellent speech talking about public service at State.
Makes you proud to be part of this tradition.
Henry Kissinger did a live interview with Niall Ferguson. His advice was to take the steps you can and do not demand more than can be done at the time.
State key principles and do not deal in absolutes. And don’t make anything zero-sum, win or lose.
Both Pompeo and Kissinger emphasized that U.S. diplomacy was and is generally a force for good and that U.S. principles have made the world a better place. That I also believe.
Greatest American diplomats
An interesting tidbit – He was asked about the greatest American diplomats. Kissinger said that through the first part of our history, diplomacy in the European sense was not necessary, since we lived with the protection of the oceans. After WWII, visionaries like Dean Acheson developed the system that still works today.
He singled our Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt as key diplomatic presidents, praising TR’s handling of the Russo-Japanese war and speculated that had TR been president in 1914, he may have helped avoid World War I, or at least mitigate it. He did not go into detail and I don’t know if it was a developed idea, but it is interesting to think of the counter factual.
The pictures from the event are Pompeo and Kissinger cutting the birthday cake and the cupcake that all the participants got.
Kissinger is 96 years old. His looks clearly show his age, but his mind sharp. We should all wish for that productive old age.