The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

54 NOVEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL OFRELATED INTEREST Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War Simon Miles, Cornell University Press, 2020, $34.95/hardcover, e-book available, 248 pages. Referencing newly available archives on both sides of the Iron Curtain, Simon Miles concludes that it was President Ronald Reagan’s first term (1981-1985) that paved the way for the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union’s demise, more than his second. He credits Reagan with a grand strategy that made deft use of carrots (“quiet diplomacy” and diplomatic agreements) and sticks (“peace through strength,” i.e, a massive arms buildup) to gain the upper hand over Moscow. Whatever credence readers give to that argument, they will be fascinated by the other story Miles tells: how the four Soviet leaders Reagan dealt with during his first term played an increasingly weak strategic hand. Simon Miles, an assistant professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, has published research articles in the Journal of Cold War Studies (2020), Diplomatic History (2016) and Diplomacy and Statecraft (2013). Negotiating the New START Treaty Rose Gottemoeller, Cambria Press, 2021, $39.99/paperback, e-book available, 244 pages. Veteran arms control negotiator Rose Gottemoeller wryly concludes her prologue by declaring that “Nego- tiating a nuclear treaty is not rocket science.” Indeed, this inside account of how she and her team overcame a host of obstacles to conclude the New Strategic Arms Reduc- tion Treaty, and gain Senate ratification, makes clear just how much more the job requires. Reviewing this book in the July-August Foreign Service Journal, Ambassador (ret.) Laura Kennedy says: “Gottemoeller gives us a unique window on the only bilateral U.S.-Russian arms control agreement still in force. Whether one is an arms control specialist, a generalist diplomat or an international relations scholar, Negotiating the New START Treaty is an invaluable case study in the art of negotiation with relevance for the years ahead.” Rose Gottemoeller served as assistant secretary of State for arms control, verification and compliance from 2009 to 2010, followed by five years as under secretary for arms control and international security. She was Deputy Secretary General of NATO from 2016 to 2019. She currently teaches at Stanford University and is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. This book received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Douglas Dillon Award this year. China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy Peter Martin, Oxford University Press, 2021, $27.95/hardcover, e-book available, 320 pages. Even FSJ readers who do not follow Chinese diplomacy closely have almost certainly heard of “wolf warriors”— officials infamous for their combat- ive approach to asserting national interests. The March meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was a prime example of this phenomenon, but journalist Peter Martin cites many others in China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf War- rior Diplomacy . Despite broad multilateral efforts such as the Belt and Road Initiative, wolf warrior diplomacy is increasingly generating pushback from other governments, particularly in Asia. As Beijing decides whether to recalibrate its approach accordingly, Martin’s interviews with dozens of Chinese officials offer a rare perspective on the tactic. Peter Martin is a political reporter for Bloomberg News who has written extensively on escalating tensions in the U.S.-China relationship, and reported from China’s border with North Korea and its far-western region of Xinjiang.

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