How Risky Are Good Diplomats?

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As a war correspondent, how risk-taking are good diplomats? And does that conflict with what you need to be a good war time correspondent? I took a lot of risks in my public persona. But i it was really important to try to break out of a kind of stale lingua franca around contemporary conflict. So the tendency is just to describe conflicts in very mechanical, i think, very antiseptic ways.

A former war correspondent and UN ambassador, Samantha Power has had her share of tough assignments. But writing a memoir about it all is also a daunting prospect. The format itself is a challenge: how do you convince the reader you’re worth spending time with? How do you paint a relatable portrait without oversharing and losing your dignity? For Samantha the answer was settling upon a purpose for her memoir and ruthlessly cutting out everything not in service of that.

Tyler and Samantha discuss that purpose and more, including what she learned as an Irish immigrant, the personality traits of good diplomats (and war correspondents), relations with China, why democracy is so rare in the Middle East, the truth about Richard Holbrooke, what factors mitigate against humanitarian intervention, her favorite memoir, how to get NATO members to spend more on defense, and whether baseball games are too long.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded July 30th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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