U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken participates in a conversation about U.S foreign affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations with President Richard Haass and with audience members locally and around the world. Delivered 28 June 2023. Major themes include include revanchism in Russia and the Russian-Ukraine conflict; shifting power dynamics in U.S.-China relations as well as tensions between China and its regional neighbors; prospects for peace in the Middle East; "variable geometry," a diplomatic matroid capable of governing both new and historic transnational partnerships; and the role of new technologies in fostering a viable U.S State Department both now and in the future. Courtesy DVIDS. Complete transcript and enhanced audio at: [ Ссылка ]

Notable Moments:

"If the United States is not engaged, if we’re not leading, then one of two things: either someone else is, and probably not in a way that advances our own interests and values; or no one is, and then you can have a vacuum that’s probably going to be filled by bad things before it’s filled by good things."

"We have a vision that is clear and unambiguous, what we’d like the world to become: free, secure, open, prosperous. And that’s a cliché, but it actually means something. It means societies in which individuals can choose their own lives freely. It means countries that are free to decide what their path will be, who their partners will be. It means an international system that’s built around rules transparently, applied fairly and equitably with goods, with information, with people flowing lawfully and freely. And it means technology used to uplift people, not to keep them down."

"Basically, we want a department that’s fit for purpose as well, and that purpose has changed. If you look at what really matters to people, of course, the bread-and-butter issues of war and peace, preventing conflict, making peace, doing the day-in, day-out work of relations between countries, that remains our bread and butter. But if we don’t have a department that’s able to act effectively and efficiently when it comes to technology, when it comes to global health, when it comes to climate, when it comes to food insecurity, when it comes to migration, then we’re not being responsive to the big challenges that are affecting people’s lives right now. That’s exactly the kind of department that we’re actually building as we speak, and I think we’ll be in a much better place to address these challenges going forward."

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