"How do you solve a problem like Mugabe?"
By Olivia Ward
Published in The Star, 10 July 2008
"Calling on African organizations to exert pressure should work in
theory," says Carne Ross, who heads the diplomatic advisory group
Independent Diplomat.
"But they always reflect the nature of
the membership. When you want to get a robust and common response to a
challenge, you end up with less than you'd wish."
"There
aren't many people who can go to work expecting appreciative calls from
countries, but Ross can... After a career spent deciding the fates of
people who weren't even in
the room, Ross gives the voiceless a chance to have their say--before
they find more drastic ways to be heard."
For full
article, please click here
(HTML) or here (PDF).
UK
ignores Saudi human rights abuses, says former top official
by
René Lavanchy
Published in Tribune, 7 March
2008
A
former senior British diplomat [Carne Ross] has launched a
stinging attack on Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia,
accusing
the Government of an obsession with arms deals and dismissing
discussions on human rights as “all talk and no
trousers”.
Søren
Jessen-Petersen on Foreign Exchange
31 January 2008
An in-depth interview with
former head
of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Søren
Jessen-Petersen, about Kosovo's looming independence and the effect it
would have on regional and international politics.
Nicholas Whyte on Voice
of
America
Voice of America, 28 January 2008
Nicholas Whyte, Head of the
Brussels
office, is interviewed about the future of Kosovo.
For
full article, please click here,
to watch the video, please click here
People
& Power- Something Rotten?
Al-Jazeera English, 23 January 2008
Documentary about Carne Ross and
Independent Diplomat, lasting 11
minutes.
Diplomats (with a
conscience)
for hire
By Toby Vogel
Published in European Voice, 17
January 2008
How can a diplomat be
independent? The
dozen
staffers of Independent Diplomat – “A diplomatic
service
for those who need it most” – are putting that
question to
the test.
Serbia's stance on Kosovo could
harm
its bid to
join the European Union, said Carne Ross, the director of Independent
Diplomat, a non-profit group which has advised the Kosovo government on
diplomacy....
"People pay attention when
celebrities
talk about Darfur, partly
because traditional diplomats and politicians are not seen as having
the legitimacy and authority they once did," says ex-British diplomat
Carne Ross, who heads Independent Diplomat, a non-profit organization
that gives diplomatic advice.
Are Diplomats Necessary? Book Review
of Independent
Diplomat by
Carne Ross
By Sir Brian Urquhart
Published in The New
York Review of Books, 11
October 2007
Carne Ross's book has a firsthand quality that deserves attention. Many
of his
criticisms and suggestions are by no means new, but his growing
disaffection
with diplomacy and diplomats should stimulate serious critical thinking
about
the conduct of international affairs.
For full
article,
please click here
(HTML) or here
(PDF); for Carne Ross's response, and Sir Brian Urquhart's reply,
please click here
(HTML) or here
(PDF).
Carne Ross: Our
Diplomatic
Deficit
By Bruce Falconer
Published in Mother
Jones, 27 July 2007
Interview: Former
British diplomat Carne
Ross had an inside view of how international policy is made during the
run-up to the Iraq war. He came away believing that the diplomatic
system is broken.
The
Education of Carne Ross: from Outrage to Opportunity
By Ludovic Hood
Published
in the Foreign
Service Journal,
May 2007
Independent Diplomat,
Ross’
nonprofit organization, was founded on the premise that failing to heed
the voices of the marginalized renders conflict and suffering more
likely. As Ross notes, “In this complex and interconnected
era, agreements that fail to take into account the interests of all
concerned parties are not good or sustainable, and too often they fall
apart. The ultimate effect is a less stable world. If people are
ignored, they tend to find ways — sometimes violent
— to get heard.”
Book
Review of Independent Diplomat by
Carne Ross By
Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor Published
in The Independent, 16 March 2007 This is a small book with a
big agenda: changing the face of British diplomacy. As Ross sees it,
the Foreign Office doesn't "do" self-criticism, and the
secrecy-obsessed department is in the grip of a pervasive complacency.
This eloquent memoir focuses on the "diplomatic deficit" he has
identified from his postings to Bonn,
Afghanistan
and New
York, which leads him to the
conclusion that officials would benefit from greater scrutiny and
interrogation from the outside world.
For full article
in PDF format please click here.
The FO: Smug, Timid and Conformist Book
Review of Independent Diplomat by
Carne Ross By
Christopher Meyer Published
in The
Sunday Times, 4 March 2007 A
dissident
diplomat’s fascinating, succinctly readable, occasionally
pretentious, ultimately futile polemic against contemporary diplomacy.
Ross makes trenchant criticisms of the diplomatic service, some
justified. The Foreign Office can be smug, timid and stiflingly
conformist; and this seems to have got worse. For full article
please clickhere.
The Saturday Profile: Rebellious
Diplomat Finds Work as Envoy of the Voiceless By
Nicholas Wood Published
in The New York Times, 3 March 2007 Nicholas
Wood profiles Carne Ross
and Independent Diplomat. He writes that guilt is not a word that most diplomats would choose
to sum up their careers, but Carne
Ross uses just that as he looks back at much of
his work over 15 years. Guilt, frustration and anger. For
full article in PDF format please clickhere.
Carne Ross, Iraq and whistleblowing By
Gideon Rachman Published
in FT
Online, 1 March 2007 Gideon
Rachman, Chair of Carne Ross’Chatham
House speech ‘The End of Diplomacy?’on 28 February
2007, gives his verdict on the event.
For full article please clickhere.
Coverage of
Press Conference by Carne Ross Foreign Press Association,
26 February 2007
Norway
Eksdiplomat vil
avvikle diplomatiet Aftenposten (Norwegian), 28 February 2007 For full article in PDF format please
click here. For
full article in PDF format (English) please clickhere.
Spain
ONG
contra el interés de Estado El
Correo (Spanish), March 2007 For full article
please clickhere.
Algeria
Le Maroc a bloqué le
référendum avec la complicité de
parties influentes, dont la France El
Moudjahid (French),
28 February 2007 For
full article please clickhere.
Retard dans le règlement du conflit sahraoui: Un
ancien diplomate anglais accuse Rabat
d'entraves Liberte Algerie (French), 1 March 2007 El
Khabar (Arabic),
1 March 2007 For
full article please click here. Ech
Chorouk (Arabic),
28 February 2007 For
full article please clickhere.
Interview
with Carne Ross on HARDtalk
Broadcast on BBC World and BBC News 24,
5 February 2007
Stephen Sackur talks with Independent Diplomat's Director, Carne Ross,
about the upcoming publication of his book, Independent Diplomat: Dispatches
from an Unaccountable Elite, published by Hurst on 26
February 2007.
The interview can be viewed via the HARDtalk website.
Interview with Christina Kiel on Tages Schau
Broadcast on Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR5) and Deutsche Welle Radio, 28
January 2007
Christina Kiel speaks about Independent Diplomat’s work. The
broadcast can be heard via the Tages Schau website.
Tim
Franks’Second Report from Kosovo
Broadcast on the Today Programme,
BBC
Radio Four, 11
October 2006
Independent Diplomat’s work
in Kosovo was featured on BBC Radio Four’s flagship Today
Programme on 11 October 2006. The report can be downloaded via the
Today Programme website. It is
the 8.42am report entitled “Tim Franks’second
report from Kosovo.”
Diplomat At Large
By Stephen Moss
Published in The
Guardian, 20 June 2005
Carne Ross must have been an
unusual schoolboy. He didn't dream of being a footballer, a cricketer
or even an engine driver. He dreamed of being a diplomat. "At quite a
young age," he recalls, "I realised that I was fascinated by abroad. I
decided quite early on that I was going to become a diplomat, and was
very discouraged by everybody saying it was incredibly difficult and
that only very clever people became diplomats."
