US Fingers in the Mangle: my analysis of the Iraq crisis
07.04.14 | John Kerry must be cursing the neo-cons.  “If you break it, you bought it”, Colin Powell once said.  Iraq is spectacularly broken, with civil war on multiple fronts.  And the US has no choice but to try to put it back together.  Having backed al-Maliki despite his egregiously divisive behavior, it cannot now let him fall and with him any semblance of the state.  This is the post-imperial burden Powell predicted (though did nothing to prevent).  As the US sends a... more
Puzzled US foreign policy: Obama at West Point (The Guardian, May 28th)
05.29.14 | The Guardian posted this piece by me today reacting to President Obama's speech on foreign policy at West Point.  And the New York Times later quoted the article in a review of (mostly tedious) reaction to the speech.  Here's the article in full:   Beyond Obama's West Point speech: a foreign puzzle, not a real foreign policy The president wants us to look past Afghanistan and Iraq. OK, fine: from drones to Damascus and Putin to the planet, these are parts of a not very unified... more
Through a Telescope, darkly: Esther Dyon's Artangel Longplayer Letter to me
04.11.14 | The Artangel Project and Long Now foundation have collaborated in a project called the Longplayer Letters where various thinkers and activists from different sectors are encouraged to write to each other about their thoughts about the future, a sort of long form debate about the long term.  Esther Dyson addressed her letter, No.4 in the series, to me.  Here it is:   The Artangel Longplayer Letters: 4 From: Esther Dyson, New York City To: Carne Ross, New York City 8 April 2014... more
The Aesthetics of Occupy
03.25.14 | Annie Appel will soon publish a wonderful compendium of photographs of the Occupy movement.  She kindly invited me to offer an introduction.  This is what I wrote: Begins   The aesthetics of Occupy have always been problematic.  The common “mainstream media” depiction of the movement has been of youth, dishevelment and indeed raggedness – a modern if repetitious iteration of the lumpen proletariat.  This predominant image has been propagated, of course, for a reason,... more
Chomsky's Brief History of Anarchism
02.05.14 | The struggle for the common good has a long past. BY Noam Chomsky This broad tendency in human development seeks to identify structures of hierarchy, authority and domination that constrain human development, and then subject them to a very reasonable challenge: Justify yourself. Humans are social beings, and the kind of creature that a person becomes depends crucially on the social, cultural and institutional circumstances of his life. We are therefore led to inquire into the social... more
What makes a beautiful politics? My talk at Eyebeam, "Performing Change", October 2013
01.08.14 |

 

Last October, I was invited to talk about "The Art of Performing Political Innovation" at an event called "Performing Change" at the Eyebeam Arts Center in New York City, at the invitation of the Italian artist Paolo Cirio (thank you, Paolo).  Although the video is over 50 minutes, my talks is at the beginning and lasts about 15 minutes.  I try to identify the common features of great art and great politics.  What makes beautiful politics? more
If you want to get into "international relations", here's my advice (New Statesman, November 2013)
11.22.13 | This is from the New Statesman's "Guide to Political Studies".  They asked me what I would say to someone wanting to get into "international relations".  You can download the guide, including my bit, here.  And here it is in text form:     I was always fascinated by international affairs.  The dramas and wars of foreign places were far more interesting to me than domestic politics.  At an early age, I decided that I wanted to become a diplomat.  On my... more
Citizens of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your data!
10.31.13 |

The Guardian asked me to comment on the NSA revelations.  I looked at this through the lens of anarchist concepts of democracy and complexity theory.  The article is online here, and text is below.  

The Guardian asked me to comment on the NSA revelations.  I looked at this through the lens of anarchist concepts of democracy and complexity theory.  The article is online here, and text is below.         Citizens of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your data NSA reform by US Congress overlooks the fact that the internet transcends national control. We the people must make the rules Carne Ross theguardian.com,... more
Flattering video on the work of Independent Diplomat
10.10.13 |

  Prepared by the Skoll Foundation, who gave us an award recently. more
"Rebel with a cause" Interview with Shaun Randol in Los Angeles Review of Books
09.01.13 | Big interview in LA Review of Books.  Full text:   Rebel with a Cause: An Interview with Carne Ross September 1st, 2013 Photo by: Ahmet Sibdial Sau   FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS, CARNE ROSS served on Britain’s diplomatic frontlines, engaging in numerous international crises in Israel-Palestine, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq. Before the 2003 Iraq invasion, Ross was the UK’s Iraq expert at the United Nations, charged with maintaining the containment of Saddam Hussein through... more