PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION JULY-AUGUST 2020 PANDEMIC DIPLOMACY LIVING UP TO OUR IDEALS FOREIGN SERVICE July-August 2020 Volume 97, No. 6 Focus on Pandemic Diplomacy 26 Waking Up to a Pandemic: H1N1 in Mexico, 2009 Beyond the shock, no two pandemics are alike, explains the FSO who was deputy chief of mission in Mexico City in 2009, when swine flu swept the world. By Leslie Bassett 42 Rethinking Public 29 Diplomacy for a There’s a Playbook: Post-Pandemic World From Ebola to COVID-19 In a fast-changing world with tensions Jeremy Konyndyk mines his and needs exacerbated by the experience leading the U.S. Ebola pandemic, the practice pandemic response effort to offer of public diplomacy demands insights into meeting the challenge a swift reconfiguration. of COVID-19 today. By Jian (Jay) Wang Interview with Jeremy Konyndyk 38 34 Disinformation COVID-19 and Global Challenges in a Pandemic Health Governance A recharged public diplomacy needs to join whole-of-government policy A career FSO with extensive experience deliberations at the highest level. in global health diplomacy discusses the practical problems—all solvable—in By Donald M. Bishop bringing the current and future health crises under control. By Jimmy Kolker Feature 45 Luanda to Ohio: A Family Journey 73 A COVID-19 evacuation story in photos. Russia’s Return to By Monica Rojas the Middle East The COVID-19 pandemic has not constrained 50 Russia’s activity in the Middle East, The Foreign Service but it is unclear whether Moscow has Responds to COVID-19 a longer-term strategy for the region. Dispatches from the field show ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ SHAMSHURINA SVETLANA By Angela Stent how the U.S. Foreign Service works for the American people. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2020 5 FOREIGN SERVICE Perspectives Departments 10 Letters 7 104 President’s Views Reflections 13 Letters-Plus Living Up to Our Ideals Public Health in Foreign Policy— 16 Talking Points By Eric Rubin Ebola 1976 By Walter Cutler 91 In Memory 9 96 Books Letter from the Editor 106 We’re Listening Local Lens By Shawn Dorman Istanbul, Turkey By Keshav Gopinath 23 Marketplace Speaking Out Changing Mindsets 99 Real Estate on Race at State By P. Michael McKinley 101 Index to Advertisers 102 Classifieds AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION 77 AFSA Supports Racial and 81 AFSA on the Hill—How Will the Pandemic Social Justice Affect the International Affairs Budget? 77 AFSA Members Speak Out in 81 AFSA Voter Registration Guide COVID-19 Survey 82 Extraordinary Times: 78 State VP Voice—COVID-19 and An Extraordinary Request the Summer Transfer Season 83 AFSA Outreach in This New (Virtual) World 79 USAID VP Voice—Operating Expense Funds 85 AFSA Works to Protect USAID Members and Program Funds: A Division that Unites During Pandemic Us All 86 Meet the 2020 AFSA Merit Award Winners 80 Retiree VP Voice— 90 State Department Drops Mandatory Mid-Term Progress Report Low Ranking 80 AFSA Governing Board Meeting On the Cover—Illustration by Dean Rohrer. 6 JULY-AUGUST 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Living Up to Our Ideals BY ERIC RUBIN s I write this, cities across the the new nations of the developing world. globe. But there have been big mistakes, United States are burning, We opposed apartheid in South Africa from the invasion of Iraq to our failure to and the world sees the image (eventually) and the imposition of racial secure the future of Afghanistan. Aof an America that is angry, segregation and white rule in Rhodesia. U.S. diplomacy must focus on how unstable and divided. We can do better, But we also fought a war in Vietnam we can make a difference in advanc- and I believe we will. But we need to that in historical retrospect was a big ing our national interests, security and face our failures and confront our weak- mistake. We adhered to the famous line prosperity. The post–Cold War era is nesses. by our great president Franklin Delano ending, and the international chal- There is no question that America Roosevelt that “he may be a son of a lenges before us demand a new, coher- has been a force for good on human bitch, but he is our son of a bitch.” While ent foreign policy vision. But the need rights and progress. But we have failed Roosevelt was describing Nicaragua’s for America to have strong representa- to address our own problems. And we Somoza, the sentiment also describes tion abroad remains critical. have been guilty of arrogance and self- our relationship to the shah of Iran, and The United States must get back to importance. Should U.S. diplomats really to the murderous military dictatorships the concepts enshrined in the Foreign be writing human rights reports every in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. Service Act of 1980, with professional year on Norway, Canada, Switzerland And yet we also fought for freedom. diplomats at the center of our policy- and Finland (for example), when our World War II was a fight for human making process. country’s own record is far from ideal? liberty. The Cold War, despite our many And the United States must return Being a U.S. diplomat has never been mistakes and overreactions, was about to our commitment to the security, simple. Until the 1960s, Foreign Service a vision of human civilization that was prosperity and stability of the world. No officers needed to represent a country based on democracy and human rights. other country is going to replace us. No that was based on a post–Civil War We can be proud of many suc- other country can do so. It is not wrong settlement that included segregation cesses—the creation of NATO and the or presumptuous for us to believe that and Jim Crow laws. While the United Organization for Security and Coopera- we have a special role to play. We have States fought Hitler and then challenged tion in Europe; our support for Euro- played it for the past 75 years, and the Stalin’s Soviet Union in the Cold War, pean integration that led to creation of world is mostly the better for it, despite we had realities at home that can only the European Community and, later, the our mistakes. be described as racist and wrong. And European Union; the development of As former Assistant Secretary for yet we persisted in fighting for a better the family of United Nations organiza- Democracy and Human Rights Harold world. tions that have been responsible for so Koh said in the June FSJ, “The United The United States designed and much progress in the daily lives of mil- States is founded on the simple, radical built the postwar lions of people; and the many bilateral idea of universal human rights.” Our institutions that and multilateral alliances that have country has failed to fully live up to its shaped the modern undergirded world stability. own promise of freedom and justice world. We (mostly) As Americans, we can and should be for all, but it is our country’s founding supported decolo- proud of this record. The U.S. Foreign purpose and ideals, and our willingness nization and the Service can be proud of its role in advanc- to fight for them, that make us uniquely independence of ing peace and prosperity across the qualified for global leadership. n Ambassador Eric Rubin is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2020 7 FOREIGN SERVICE Editor-in-Chief, Director of Publications Shawn Dorman: [email protected] www.afsa.org Senior Editor Susan Brady Maitra: [email protected] Managing Editor CONTACTS Kathryn Owens: [email protected] AFSA Headquarters: ADVOCACY Associate Editor (202) 338-4045; Fax (202) 338-6820 Director of Advocacy Cameron Woodworth: [email protected] State Department AFSA Office: Kim Greenplate: [email protected] (202) 647-8160; Fax (202) 647-0265 Publications Coordinator USAID AFSA Office: FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Dmitry Filipoff: [email protected] (202) 712-1941; Fax (202) 216-3710 Director of Finance and Facilities Business Development Manager— FCS AFSA Office: Femi Oshobukola: [email protected] Advertising and Circulation (202) 482-9088; Fax (202) 482-9087 Manager, HR and Operations Molly Long: [email protected] Cory Nishi: [email protected] GOVERNING BOARD Controller Art Director President Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] Caryn Suko Smith Hon. Eric S. Rubin: [email protected] Member Accounts Specialist Editorial Board Secretary Ana Lopez: [email protected] Alexis Ludwig, Chair Ken Kero-Mentz: [email protected] IT and Infrastructure Coordinator Hon. Robert M. Beecroft Treasurer Aleksandar “Pav” Pavlovich: Daniel Crocker Virginia L. Bennett: [email protected] [email protected] Joel Ehrendreich State Vice President Harry Kopp Thomas Yazdgerdi: [email protected] COMMUNICATIONS Jess McTigue USAID Vice President Christopher Teal Director of Communications Jason Singer: [email protected] Joe Tordella Ásgeir Sigfússon: [email protected] FCS Vice President Vivian Walker Manager of Outreach and Internal Hon. Laurence Wohlers Jay Carreiro: [email protected] Communications Dinah Zeltser-Winant FAS Vice President Allan Saunders: [email protected] Michael Riedel: [email protected] Online Communications Manager Retiree Vice President Jeff Lau: [email protected] THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS John K. 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