Foreign ministers have played different roles. The éminence grise/homme sérieux: Dean Acheson, Zhou Enlai, George Shultz, Sergey Lavrov, S Jaishankar… The good cop/bad cop: John Foster Dulles, Selwyn Lloyd, Andrei Gromyko, M Couve de Murville, Henry Kissinger, Geoffrey Howe, James Baker, Colin Powell, Wang Yi… The moralist/public conscience: Lester Pearson, Abba Eban, Cyrus Vance, Robin Cook, Joschka Fischer, Dominique de Villepin… Then there are some who have played (or are playing) a less familiar role: [?]: Madeleine Albright, Michael Pompeo, Annalena Baerbock, Dominic Raab, Antony Blinken, Marco Rubio… Diplomats have long been deferential, ineffectual, glib, or moronic – but rarely all four things at once. Why the new persona? Talleyrand is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Talleyrand that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments. © 2025 Talleyrand |