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Good Writing Can Make for Good U.N. Diplomacy

Good Writing Can Make for Good U.N. Diplomacy
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivers a speech at Methodist Central Hall in London, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2006 (AP photo by Matt Dunham).

Editor’s note: Guest columnist Richard Gowan is filling in for Stewart Patrick, who will return July 12.

Some years ago, I wrote a column about the Trump administration’s hapless diplomacy at the United Nations that noted that the U.S. faced “a brace of flash points from Iran to South Sudan.” I did not pause to think what “a brace” was. I must have assumed it meant “a lot.”

A few days later, I received a wry email from a gentleman in Oxford pointing out that a brace is in fact a synonym for “a pair.” Trump, he thought, was facing more than just two crises.

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