American Diplomacy Links--May/June 2017.

• Author: Clack, George

American Diplomacy Links 5.17.17

"Why Europe Is Falling Apart"

For decades, the world has known a liberal and united Europe. But the Old Continent is in a deepening crisis--one with disturbing implications for democracies across the world.

By Michael J. Totten, the Tower. Totten is a contributing editor of the Tower, a Washington, D.C.-based magazine, on the Middle East, and the author of Where the West Ends: Stories From the Middle East, the Balkans, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus and Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa.

http://www.thetower.org/article/why-europe-is-falling-apart/

"Information Warfare Versus Soft Power"

"In the nineteenth century," Nye writes, "the outcome of contests for mastery of Europe depended primarily on whose army won; today, it also depends on whose story wins." Recent Russian attempts to influence the U.S. and European elections through a "fire hose of falsehoods" is a throwback to a form of information warfare long practiced by the Soviets. The best defense is not to try to answer each lie, but to forewarn and inoculate against the process.

By Joseph S. Nye, Project Syndicate. Nye is a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense and chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council. Now a Harvard professor, he is the author most recently of Is the American Century Over?

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/cyber-warfare-weakens-russia-soft-power-by-joseph-s--nye-2017-05

"Transcript: Independent Journal Review's Sit-Down Interview with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson"

This was Rex Tillerson's first full-length interview after becoming secretary of state. He discusses China, the North Korean threat, and his policy of limited press access.

By Erin McPike, Independent Journal Review. McPike is the White House correspondent for the Independent Journal Review.

http://ijr.com/2017/03/827413-transcript-independent-journal-reviews-sit-interview-secretary-state-rex-tillerson/

"Trump Should Push the Saudis to Scale back Proselytizing"

Reports are that the new leadership of Saudi Arabia is unusually responsive to complaints about the deleterious effects of Saudi proselytizing in spreading jihad. The president may have an opportunity to get at the roots of Islamic terrorism on his upcoming trip to the Middle East.

By William McCants, Brookings Blogs. McCants is a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy. From 2009 to 2011, he served as a U.S. State...