Thailand’s Horrific Coup, Three Years Later

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 22, 2017

A friendly, caring nurse is tending some wounded people in a temple in Bangkok. Several have been shot, others are too traumatised to speak. Suddenly more shots crack out and Royal Thai Army bullets start raining down on the unarmed gathering. People start running in all directions, seeking cover. The nurse – a 25 year […]

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Panama’s Reputation Rebuild

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 17, 2017

Over at our sister blog Corporate Foreign Policy, team member Andrea Zanon writes on the subject of Panama’s reputation recovery following one of the largest whistleblower leaks in history. It’s an interesting case study of what countries need to do to build trust and transparency to continue to compete in the international business environment.  Excerpt […]

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Gülen Poses a Threat to Turkey and the United States

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 16, 2017

Today President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is making his first official state visit to President Donald Trump in Washington DC. Among the many issues in the bilateral relationship they will be discussing is the status of Fethullah Gülen, a billionaire Turkish fugitive living in Pennsylvania who is accused of planning last July’s attempted military […]

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Oligopoly and the Airline Industry

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: April 15, 2017

Like many of you, I have been obsessively watching the crisis at United Airlines unfold, where approximately $1 billion in share value has been shed following the viral video of a passenger being violently removed from an overbooked flight. The response to this crisis, at least in terms of reputation management, has obviously been very […]

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The Rule of Law in a Polarized America

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: April 14, 2017

I recommend this thoughtful Passover piece published by Bill Galston in the Wall Street Journal, which emphasizes the difference between the policies that parties may fight over and the underlying institutional structures which should remain sacred.  Some quotes: Contemporary populists have legitimate complaints against the status quo, not least the incapacity of parliamentary governments to […]

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A Love Song from Lavrov

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: April 13, 2017

There’s been a lot of good analysis published on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first visit to Russia this week, but it was down at the bottom of this piece by Amie Ferris-Rotman in Foreign Policy which stands out: Despite the high stakes and heightened scrutiny, there were some aspects of Wednesday’s visit that seemed […]

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