Selective implementation of anti-corruption measures in US foreign policy Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (14 March 2020) — I have been thinking for a while to revisit the importance of anti-corruption strategy in US foreign policy and how it has been implemented. It led me to re-read an article I wrote in 2005 on the subject. My article, “Anti-corruption strategy in US foreign policy” (Jamaica Observer, Aug. 28, 2005) drew attention to the objective of anti-corruption policy as an element...
Kim plays Trump on North Korean denuclearization Ambassador Curtis A. Ward ( 30 Aug. 2018) — The most recent development on North Korea’s so-called denuclearization, the reality of which has been a matter of extreme skepticism among foreign policy and security experts, undermines U.S. President Donald Trump’s expectations. Trump had convinced himself that he had procured a history-changing agreement with North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un at the ill-conceived Singapore Summit. In...
Setting the Stage for U.S. Geostrategic Agenda Ambassador Curtis A. Ward United States president Donald Trump faces a plethora of geopolitical and geosecurity issues with a new and untested foreign policy team – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser, Ambassador John Bolton. Both share common cause with President Trump on limiting the use of diplomacy in settling world affairs. They project the use of military power as a means to advance U.S. interests abroad. It is...
Trump’s Foreign Policy by the Seat of his Pants Ambassador Curtis A. Ward Understanding United States foreign policy can be perplexing. However, American foreign policy, though complex, usually has been logical and coherent. Astute observers, and by extension foreign governments, could pierce the veil of American foreign policy to reach certain conclusions about underlying objectives. Each U.S. president had a framework – a national security and geopolitical strategy – which provided...
Blackmailing Pakistan is Bad U. S. Policy Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (07 January 2018) — Anyone who understands the geopolitical and security dynamics of Pakistan and neighboring countries – Afghanistan, Iran, India, and China – and the complex and variable relationships between and among these countries, must be scratching their heads trying to figure out current U.S. strategy in the region. Arguably, the most plausible conclusion is that by undermining the Pakistani military, as...
Are Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters a Threat to Caribbean Security? Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (29 October 2017) — In previous writings, including in The Ward Post, and presentations I have made in a number of fora in the past year, I raised the possibility of returning foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) whose origins are the Caribbean posing risks and dangers to the region. It’s time for Caribbean governments to pay attention and coordinate plans to deal with this imminent danger...
Drums of War Trump UN North Korean Sanctions Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (13 Aug. 2017) — An unusual show of unanimity in the United Nations Security Council imposing new, meaningful targeted commodity and financial sanctions against North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea -DPRK) is on the brink of collapse with the bellicosity from U.S. President Donald Trump. The response by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the UN sanctions was not unexpected. The response from Donald...
U.S-Russia Daggers Drawn: Unsheathing the Sanctions Sword Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (30 July 2017) — This article could well be titled “Trump vs. Congress on Russian Sanctions,” (Part 2) as a sequel to what I wrote in The Ward Post almost eight months ago. By that time, I had already offered the probability in “Will Trump Fall on the Sanctions Sword?” that President Donald Trump would likely fall on the sanctions sword if he tried to do President Vladimir Putin’s bidding. The...
Caribbean Policy in the Trump Era: Forum on Strategic Engagement Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (13 June 2017) — Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Chair of the Caribbean Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, on June 8, 2017, convened an open discussion on “U.S.–Caribbean relations in the era of President Donald Trump’s Administration.” Congresswoman Maxine Walters (D-CA) was co-convener of the discussions, which were also set in the context of The United...
