Ben East

Continuing a short list of blogs and independent websites offering an insider’s view of U.S. diplomacy steeped in experience. Not  officialdom. I previously posted this Foreign Service blog list.

https://diplopundit.net

Opinionated and often edgy, DiploPundit has no official connection to the U.S. Department of State. It wades into leadership issues, Foreign Service realities, international current events, and other developments in the foreign affairs community. Updated daily the blog is the brainchild of Domani Spero, an obsessive compulsive observer, diplomatic watcher, and opinionator who monitors the goings on at ‘Foggy-Bottom’ and the ‘worldwide available’ universe—from Albania to Zimbabwe. 

http://www.afsa.org/foreign-service-blogs

An extensive list of Foreign Service blogs, some of which have already been covered here or will be soon. The collection highlights the creative talents in the diplomatic and international development corps and give insight into work and life in the U.S. Foreign Service around the world. Almost all are personal and unofficial and don’t represent the views of AFSA or any of the foreign affairs agencies. Categorized by affiliation and area of interest.

http://foreignserviceproblems.tumblr.com/

See these Foreign Service problems for yourself.

http://adst.org

The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) is dedicated to advancing awareness and understanding of American diplomacy. ADST’s independent activities include creating and curating a foreign affairs oral history collection. Some 1,700 oral histories share the experiences, analyses, and wisdom of distinguished foreign affairs practitioners.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/

Updated on a rolling basis with articles on international issues, the Foreign Service despatches and periodic reports about U.S. foreign policy promote understanding of the challenges of diplomatic life abroad through the memoirs of U.S. Foreign Service personnel and their families. Among their contributors are American diplomats, both active and retired, as well as distinguished academicians.

http://foreignserviceproblems.tumblr.com/

See these Foreign Service problems for yourself. GIF format.

http://www.afsa.org

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) is the professional association and labor union of the United States Foreign Service with a membership that includes active and retired Foreign Service employees of the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Foreign Commercial Service (FCS), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and Broadcasting Board of Governors (think, Voice of America). AFSA’s principal mission is to be the voice of the Foreign Service, and the collection of news at this site includes links to current issues of the Foreign Service Journal and to books and blogs by and about America’s diplomats.

usdiplomacy.org

Reliable information on U.S. diplomatic history, dimensions of contemporary diplomacy and the domestic and foreign activities of the State Department.  It also has bibliographic references, web links, source documents and video clips on, for example, Secretaries of State, “Foreign Service Examples of Excellence,” “Diplomats in Harm’s Way” and African American Foreign Service pioneers.