by Patricia H. Kushlis | Jan 19, 2015 | Monitor
By Patricia H Kushlis It wasn’t long after I began to work as an Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Moscow during Brezhnev’s later years, that I learned the realities of Soviet life. As it turned out, only one Soviet who I met during...
by Patricia H. Kushlis | Dec 12, 2014 | Monitor
By Patricia H Kushlis It’s been nearly four months since we asked the State Department to grant open and public access to its statistics – broken down by gender and race – regarding promotions in the Foreign Service in “What’s the big secret with the...
by Patricia H. Kushlis | Dec 3, 2014 | Monitor
By Patricia H Kushlis CALAIS-ISTANBUL: All Aboard! I have long been an Agatha Christie fan, especially of her murder mysteries set in the Middle East. The Murder on the Orient Express, of course, is the classic – but rumors to the contrary – her most...
by Patricia H. Kushlis | Nov 25, 2014 | Monitor
By Patricia H Kushlis In a talk in Washington, DC last April, Strobe Talbot, Russian expert, journalist and former Deputy Secretary of State, described Vladimir Putin as a consummate risk taker, an excellent tactician but a poor strategist. Putin’s dream of...
by Patricia H. Kushlis | Nov 17, 2014 | Monitor
By Patricia H. Kushlis I spent November 4 working as an election official at a precinct in a nearby Pueblo. The precinct is in Santa Fe County, about 20 miles north from the city of Santa Fe. I’d worked there before – in June for the primaries. At that time, the...