Nilanthi Samaranayake

Looking back on the Iran hostage crisis, “nobody has ever forgiven them for it. And I can’t forgive them either,” says former Carter aide Gary Sick. “It was a stupid thing to do and it was hugely costly.”

I attended the National Day reception at the Embassy of Bangladesh to speak about our bilateral relations. Today, the U.S.-Bangladesh relationship matters more than ever. Our cooperation in areas including security, trade, and governance, as well as our shared values, make our countries more prosperous and secure.  --S. Paul Kapur

(Reuters) - China will at one point have to engage more directly on how to restore oil traffic flows in the Strait of Hormuz because the number of vessels it has going through is probably insufficient, France's navy chief said on Wednesday. "We have not seen China’s navy step in to reopen the strait. On the other hand, there is direct political dialogue between Chinese and Iranian authorities to ensure that a certain number of vessels can pass. Will that be enough to restore normal traffic flows? I don’t believe so," Admiral Nicolas Vaujour told the War & Peace security conference in Paris. "As a result, China will probably have to engage more directly in the debate and show its impatience with the fact that the strait remains closed."

As a good defensive realist, I plan to sit back and build my defenses while the liberal internationalists and offensive realists fight each other to exhaustion over the meaning of realism.

For USG and media tracking: China's candidacy to host the secretariat of the BBNJ high seas treaty. Significant implications for China's increasing global maritime power.