Diplomat

• The Shanghai film festival has excluded all Japanese movies this week, signaling a potential unofficial boycott of Japanese cultural exports. • While China has already imposed official restrictions on trade and tourism with Japan since November, no formal ban on the cultural sector has been announced. • This development suggests that diplomatic tensions between the two nations are now extending into the arts, music, and cinema industries.

State department’s incendiary charge into UK politics comes from Trump who leant into personal feud with London mayor, Sadiq Khan• Henry Nowak: controversy behind US intervention in a murder case that has rocked BritainIn the state department of past administrations, how to respond to an incendiary event such as the murder of the British student Henry Nowak would have required deliberations, memos and meetings. Given how it has roiled the UK and inflamed tensions over migration and race, the cautious diplomats at Foggy Bottom likely would have said nothing at all.Now they tweet from the hip. “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline,” the department’s official account posted on Thursday. “They must be rejected across the West.” Continue reading...

• J. Ricardo Martins argues that the "Geneva fiasco" demonstrates the danger of replacing professional diplomats with business-oriented dealmakers in international relations. • The author contends that these dealmakers mistakenly viewed compromise as weakness, which escalated a negotiable crisis into an active conflict with Iran. • This shift is framed as a broader geopolitical risk, threatening the traditional American diplomatic strengths of credibility, predictability, and professional competence.

• The "Geneva fiasco" highlights the risks of replacing professional diplomats with business dealmakers who misinterpret diplomatic compromise as weakness. • This shift in approach transformed a negotiable crisis into an active conflict with Iran, undermining traditional diplomatic strategies. • The situation signals a broader geopolitical decline in American diplomacy, which has historically relied on credibility, predictability, and professional competence.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has urged the United States to evacuate its diplomatic staff from the embassy in Kyiv. • This demand comes as President Vladimir Putin threatens "revenge strikes" against Ukraine, escalating tensions between the two nations. • The move signals a severe breakdown in diplomatic relations and suggests that Russia may be preparing for further military aggression.

Tehran negotiator says there will be no compromise over its ‘legitimate rights’ during meeting with Pakistan army chiefIran’s top negotiator has said there will be no compromise over its national rights during a meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Tehran on Saturday, amid a flurry of diplomacy aimed at preventing renewed US strikes on Iran.Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, said Tehran would secure its “legitimate rights”, whether through the battlefield or through negotiations, while accusing the US of not being an honest negotiating partner, Iranian state media reported. Continue reading...

• Pakistan is intensifying its diplomatic efforts to facilitate a resumption of peace talks between the United States and Iran. • President Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu aim to dismantle Iran's nuclear and missile programs while curbing its support for regional militias. • The initiative comes as Trump faces domestic pressure and declining approval ratings due to rising fuel prices ahead of the November midterm elections.