MOIRA GALLAGA

Modern technology and cost pressures prompt some to argue they are irrelevant. But embassies still have a role. > Do We Still Need Embassies? by @moiragallaga @Diplomat_APAC thediplomat.com/2013/09/do-we-…

Change comes to #Hungary 🇭🇺 after 16 years of Orbán’s government . Much for new govt led by Peter #Magyar to do: Hungary is reported to be the poorest & most corrupt country in the EU. Its corrosion of democracy & much else was also of great concern to EU. bbc.com/news/articles/…

@ASDylanJohnson If this is the first time that a dress code needed to be codified, that means it wasn't necessary before as everyone knew what would be the proper attire when carrying out their duties. @StateDept_NEA @StateDept @SecRubio @DeputySecState

👔 No more casual: State Department imposes first-ever dress code on diplomats Representing the United States of America is an honor — and this new policy ensures our diplomats project credibility, respect, and the dignity of the nation we serve. foxnews.com/politics/no-mo…

@HelenClarkNZ @TheEconomist The stakes are really high, and this could go either way.

Agree with @TheEconomist assessment on #US_Iran talks: There’s still a chance to reach a deal; there’s also a chance the war, & the chaos in energy markets, is about to get worse”. Danger of each side misreading the other. Whole world affected by impasse: economist.com/middle-east-an…

@NewYorker The Americans and the Iranians are fighting 2 different wars, respectively.

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth might wish that they lived in a world where whoever dropped the most bombs got whatever he wanted. But the war has shown that this isn’t true. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

@HelenClarkNZ Is there any difference between his speeches and his social media posts? 🤔🙏

POTUS “primetime nationwide address on war with #Iran caused widespread bewilderment, with commentators voicing shock at his vow to continue bombing to “bring them back to the stone ages”. Some describe speech as regurgitation of his social media posts. theguardian.com/us-news/2026/a…

@CollinSLKoh Defensive measures only? Meaning Iran will be free to take potshots at vessels crossing the Strait without consequence.

A sign of what's to come in future. If Indo-Pacific maritime chokepoints are blocked, and if any of these P5 member states who happen to be belligerents wield their vetoes, we should forget about a mandate for necessary military force to lift blockades. apnews.com/article/iran-s…

@Biesan_AK @FarnoushAmiri So, that resolution is still pending, interesting. Russia benefits from the continued closure of the Strait, so no surprise if it will veto the resolution. Let's see how this develops...

Update: hearing from sources that the vote on the Bahrain draft on Strait of Hormuz is not even a done deal on Saturday with some members requesting for it to take place on Monday since everyone had prepared for the vote to happen today and that changed all of a sudden. Also hearing from sources that the fear of a veto might be the delay knowing that the Russian position has not changed. Again, let’s wait and see.

SEC RUBIO: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 Every problem in the Middle East tracks back to Iran. Hezbollah? Iran. Shia militias that are destroying and threatening Iraq? Iran. Hamas? Iran. The Houthis? Iran. The Assad when he was in Syria? Iran.

Education is a human right, not a privilege. See how @UNESCO works around the world to ensure everyone, everywhere can access quality education. unesco.org/en/education

@vtchakarova Monitoring the outcome ...

Ceasefire talks between the US and Iran are under way in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad – the first direct in-person talks between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. US Vice President JD Vance leads the US delegation. He met Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif ahead of ceasefire negotiations. Iranian officials, including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, also met Sharif.

🙏🙏🙏

‼️ JUST IN: Negotiations are underway right now between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan. VP JD Vance just met face-to-face with Pakistan’s Prime Minister as talks kick off. Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil.

Pope Leo XIV's Prayer Vigil for Peace on Saturday, April 11, will see faithful from different continents light candles with fire from the Lamp of Peace in Assisi. vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2…

@VaticanNews Link please?

Join Pope Leo XIV in praying for peace. Follow the Vigil live on vaticannews.va, Facebook Live, or the Vatican News English YouTube channel.

@ABSCBNNews The problem ... that is Myanmar. @ASEAN @DFAPHL @SecLazaro

Malacañang on election of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing as Myanmar’s new president: “PH encourages renewed momentum toward the full and effective implementation of the 5-Point Consensus… the cessation of violence & facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance” to Myanmar. | via @_katrinadomingo

@sciencekonek That's interesting information. Probably not that useful, but interesting nonetheless.

#SciFeature 𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗣𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗣 🌎 Ever wondered what’s on the other side of the Earth if you dug straight down from the Philippines? You’d end up in South America, hitting parts of Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia! An antipode is a spot on Earth that lies directly opposite another, representing the farthest point from it. Picture a line cutting through the Earth’s center—where it exits the surface are two antipodes. Some famous antipode pairs include New Zealand and Spain, or Argentina and China. But since oceans cover most of Earth, only about 15% of land has land opposites. For the Philippines, most islands align with Brazil’s Amazon region (Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Pará, Amazonas), while Northern Luzon points toward Bolivia and Batanes toward Paraguay. With dense forests and farmland on the other side, no major Philippine city has a big-city counterpart! #geography #EarthMonth

@EvanFeigenbaum @CarnegieEndow - That effect is already happening. "At the end of the day, it is pure fantasy to believe these will have zero effect on U.S. posture in Asia."

I write for @CarnegieEndow on how abstract debates about geopolitics in Washington belie the harsh realities now facing governments, firms, and people across Asia. Five weeks into the war, Asia has faced a grim picture that may soon yield politically fraught policy trade-offs and difficult fiscal constraints. Asia faces a double whammy of pain from the United States: a year of erratic American trade policies and fresh tariffs, which have undermined many of the region’s prevailing developmental assumptions, and now American policy in the Middle East, which threatens to wreck Asian energy security while forcing politically fraught, socially unpalatable, and deeply unpopular fiscal and programmatic choices. Colin Powell famously told the president in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, “you break it, you own it.” In many respects, and to many Asian ears, current American messaging stands Powell’s alleged aphorism on its head—“I break it, you own it.” In strategic terms, I argue, this is not a winning message for the United States in Asia. carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/…

@ForeignAffairs @NeilQuilliam1 @SanamVakil "To protect their interests, they will need to build collective capacity, manage rivalries, and shape the balance of power themselves." foreignaffairs.com/persian-gulf/a…

“To better protect themselves, Gulf leaders must now try to wrest some autonomy from the United States by strengthening cooperation, foremost among themselves,” argue @NeilQuilliam1 and @SanamVakil. foreignaffairs.com/persian-gulf/a…

@RnaudBertrand Yes, this isn't a good look for the Americans.

Breaking news: when you're at war with a country and your treaty allies are starting to negotiate their own side deals directly with the "enemy", it's not exactly a sign of impending victory...

Indeed, the time is now, and if Europe fails, that's it; there won't be a second chance. But the silver linings include JEF and other coalitions within coalitions, that move and build faster than the rest. The EU, as such, might well prove to be like the WTO, a structure of the past.