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The Foreign Circus: Why Foreign Policy Should Not Be Left in the Hands of Diplomats, Spies and Political Hacks
How is the world ruled and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." Karl Kraus. An ambassador orders his staff into the lawless interior of a civil war-torn country as guerrillas are targeting foreigners for assassination. Hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S.-bought weaponry are channeled to Afghan religious fanatics, the future Taliban. White House players leak classified information to the media, then blame the leaks on career civil servants. Diplomats succumb to the temptations of exotic overseas sexual playgrounds. Political hacks and campaign bundlers are rewarded with ambassadorships in a diplomatic spoils system that harkens back to the Robber Baron age. Computer nerds Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning steal a veritable Croesus of sensitive national security information and give it away free to our adversaries. What's wrong with this picture? Everything. Our foreign policy is in the hands of fools, the clueless, the self-serving and the politically corrupt. Read this book first. Then fill out papers to emigrate. The author provides a first-hand view from inside the belly of the beast of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. His insights are so spot-on that government censors have blocked out whole sections of text. THE FOREIGN CIRCUS will have you alternatively laughing and shaking your head
254 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2014
15 people want to read
About the author
James Bruno
13 books18 followersJames Bruno is the author of four bestselling books. He has been featured on NBC's Today Show, CNN, Fox News, SiriusXM Radio, in The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, and other national and international media. His spy-mob thriller PERMANENT INTERESTS and CHASM, a thriller about war criminals, have landed simultaneously on three Amazon Kindle Bestseller lists, including #1 in Political Fiction and #1 in Spy Stories. They were joined by TRIBE, a political thriller centered on Afghanistan. HAVANA QUEEN is an espionage thriller set in Cuba. THE FOREIGN CIRCUS, a book of satirical essays on U.S. foreign policy is also an Amazon bestseller. Mr. Bruno is a contributor to POLITICO Magazine and Washington Monthly, and an instructor at ThrillerFest.
Mr. Bruno served as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State for twenty-three years and currently is a member of the Diplomatic Readiness Reserve, subject to worldwide duty on short notice. Mr. Bruno holds M.A. degrees from the U.S. Naval War College and Columbia University, and a B.A. from George Washington University.
His assignments have included Cuba, Guantanamo Naval Base (as liaison with the Cuban military), Pakistan/Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Washington, DC. He has spent ample time at the White House and has served in a Secret Service presidential protection detail overseas. He also knows the Pentagon, CIA and other foreign affairs agencies well.
The author is honored to have been denounced by name recently by the Castro propaganda machine for his latest thriller, "Havana Queen."
Based on his experiences, James Bruno's novels possess an authenticity rarely matched in the political thriller genre. His political commentary in POLITICO, Fox News, Washington Monthly, SiriusXM Radio and foreign media has won national and international attention. If you like taut, suspense-filled thrillers written by someone who has actually been at the center of the action, read James Bruno's books. You will not be disappointed!
Mr. Bruno served as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State for twenty-three years and currently is a member of the Diplomatic Readiness Reserve, subject to worldwide duty on short notice. Mr. Bruno holds M.A. degrees from the U.S. Naval War College and Columbia University, and a B.A. from George Washington University.
His assignments have included Cuba, Guantanamo Naval Base (as liaison with the Cuban military), Pakistan/Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Washington, DC. He has spent ample time at the White House and has served in a Secret Service presidential protection detail overseas. He also knows the Pentagon, CIA and other foreign affairs agencies well.
The author is honored to have been denounced by name recently by the Castro propaganda machine for his latest thriller, "Havana Queen."
Based on his experiences, James Bruno's novels possess an authenticity rarely matched in the political thriller genre. His political commentary in POLITICO, Fox News, Washington Monthly, SiriusXM Radio and foreign media has won national and international attention. If you like taut, suspense-filled thrillers written by someone who has actually been at the center of the action, read James Bruno's books. You will not be disappointed!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 1, 2014
The Titillating Truth About the Foreign Service
If you like your chaos, mayhem, graft, and incompetence served with a generous side-order of humor, you'll enjoy this book. Unfortunately, my enjoyment was interrupted periodically as I recalled that this isn't fiction. More than you ever wanted to know about the Foreign Service and the political class, yet almost as titillating as a trashy sex novel.
If you like your chaos, mayhem, graft, and incompetence served with a generous side-order of humor, you'll enjoy this book. Unfortunately, my enjoyment was interrupted periodically as I recalled that this isn't fiction. More than you ever wanted to know about the Foreign Service and the political class, yet almost as titillating as a trashy sex novel.
September 2, 2014
Not a bad book but not a great one either. I think there was more than one book in there and it suffered, I think, from having material that was published elsewhere put together as if it were a series of blog posts.
As an American abroad for nearly 20 years now the goings-on at the US embassies and consulates in the two countries have lived in are a complete mystery to me. My interactions with the local consulates have been pretty much confined to passport services (a US passport is required for a US citizen to travel to the US). I do note that security has been greatly enhanced over the years and that the "welcome" is not what it was. Going to the consulate in the 1990's and going today is like night and day.
So I read the book with a few preconceptions (not too many) about who these folks are and what they do.
I finished it feeling that one suspicion was reinforced and that is the sense that the personnel at the consulates are not there to serve or help US citizens abroad - they have far more important things to do (which they don't always do, according to this book, very well). If true, that's pretty unfortunate all around and very bad news for those of us who live abroad long-term.
As an American abroad for nearly 20 years now the goings-on at the US embassies and consulates in the two countries have lived in are a complete mystery to me. My interactions with the local consulates have been pretty much confined to passport services (a US passport is required for a US citizen to travel to the US). I do note that security has been greatly enhanced over the years and that the "welcome" is not what it was. Going to the consulate in the 1990's and going today is like night and day.
So I read the book with a few preconceptions (not too many) about who these folks are and what they do.
I finished it feeling that one suspicion was reinforced and that is the sense that the personnel at the consulates are not there to serve or help US citizens abroad - they have far more important things to do (which they don't always do, according to this book, very well). If true, that's pretty unfortunate all around and very bad news for those of us who live abroad long-term.
February 13, 2016
Compelling read, though leaning towards foreign service establishment viewpoint in an age when the professionals seem to be challenged to maintain an even keel.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews