Decay, Diplomacy and the Road Ahead
Reflections on a changing world from thirty years with a front row view
“The Trump administration is bringing the post–World War II era to an end.”
That’s a quote from Anne Appelbaum’s article in The Atlantic on February 20. (Paywall)
“No one should be surprised.”, she wrote. And she’s right. The world we’ve known for decades is shifting beneath our feet—politically, economically, and diplomatically. Whether we agree or not, we have to navigate this reality.
I’m not a historian or a political scientist, nor have I been formally educated in international affairs or geopolitical studies. I have, however, been privy to having a ringside seat during some historical moments in our lifetime.
Throughout history, diplomacy and travel have been intertwined, shaping economies and international relations. I’ve seen firsthand how open borders and strategic alliances foster not just trade, but peace.
The more we communicate, even with those we disagree with, the better the chance we will find common ground.
One of the starkest examples of diplomacy in action during my career was during apartheid when many countries boycotted South Africa. Our hotel in Oslo housed the first official South African representative in the country while working with international partners to help the Western world re-establish normal relations.
A common factor in many of my experiences was being witness to the ability of US leaders and diplomats to work with their European colleagues and counterparts, perhaps especially those of us in the private sector.
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, marking a turning point in global politics. Just two years later, the Soviet Union collapsed. By 1993, tensions in Russia were far from settled. When I visited Moscow weeks before the so-called "October Revolution," the atmosphere was tense. I remember watching CNN who were filming the attack on Moscow’s “white house” from the same hotel I’d stayed in.
Before the end of the 90s, the company I worked for was the leading international operator of hotels in Eastern Europe and former Soviet countries.
US Embassy Regional Security Officers invited me to address meetings of the local chapters of the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), a State Department organization set up to help US-based organizations operate safely in international locations.
When militant separatists started seizing state institutions in Eastern Ukraine in 2014, our hotel in Donetsk remained in operation. They provided safe accommodation to US businesses that had to close production facilities and extract their expat personnel. Later, the hotel housed international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. When Malaysian Airlines flight 370 was shot down by a Russian-made rocket, the black boxes were handed over from the rebels to Malaysian authorities in the hotel.
When Ebola struck West Africa in 2014, experts from the US Center for Disease Control used our hotel as a safe haven. The hotel was kept Ebola-free as international aid workers went into the communities to combat and finally control the disease.
In December 2015, terrorists attacked our hotel in Mali, killing 18 people. Our collaboration with OSAC was instrumental in providing follow-up support to victims and their families by helping to connect us with companies that had guests registered at the hotel.
Many people say that they can’t believe what is happening today, but when you think about it, we’ve been balancing on the edge for as long as I can remember.
When I was a kid, we were proud to call Canada a tolerant, multicultural country. I had classmates and friends from all kinds of cultures. British, French, Dutch, German, Swedish, Polish, Norwegian, and Italian; almost every culture in the not-yet-formed European Union was represented. Yes, there were a few Asians amongst us, too. There must have been because the city I lived in had several Chinese restaurants.
When cable TV arrived, we swapped out the Saturday morning cartoons with US College Football. Serious discussions ensued on the playgrounds. Did we ever think a black person would be able to play quarterback? It was probably about 1971 when we democratically concluded that, yes, that might one day be possible. But of course, a black man would never become coach of the football team at a major US college, let alone the NFL.
Fast forward to today. While we’ve made strides in diversity, in many ways we allowed companies to build wealth based on a form of invisible slavery. Employees were once viewed as value-creating contributors to business success. The number of people employed was a KPI.
Company owners decided they could make more money by replacing employees with outsourced labour. Labour they sourced from the lowest bidder.
But diplomacy isn’t just about international relations—it has direct consequences on people’s livelihoods. As global policies shifted toward profit-driven decisions, we saw a hollowing out of the middle class, leaving wealth in the hands of a few oligarchs or wannabe oligarchs.
Today, for many people, the American Dream is to win a lottery or claim first prize on a game show that rewards liars, backstabbers, and others with dangerously selfish mindsets.
It’s no wonder you can now become a millionaire by being the best “Traitor”. Whoever thought that treason was worthy of reward?
It’s no wonder that the US President is a failed business tycoon with multiple bankruptcies behind him who, until he was elected, was most famous for yelling “You’re Fired” on a scripted reality TV show convincing him that he was a “stable genius”.
The once-free press we took pride in is in a shambles. It is now controlled by infantile, insecure, phallic-rocket-building, ultra-wealthy white guys who are so afraid of what others might think that they are ending free speech by refusing to allow journalists to publish opposing opinions while they pull the strings of a puppet who happens to be the leader of a country formerly known as the powerhouse of the free world.
No one should be surprised by the uncertainty the world is now in.
We can blame people who voted for Trump, but blame isn’t going to get us anywhere.
In my home, I have a framed US flag that once flew above the State Department. Many people would probably advise me to hide it, dispose of it, or even burn it.
I’m not going to.
It will remain on display as a reminder that, despite the current administration, there are many caring, compassionate, competent people in the US. I’m confident that the majority of people will realize that an isolationist, zero-sum, “my way or the highway” approach to international relations is detrimental to everyone, including those propping up today’s administration.
Sooner or later, the puppet and its masters will fall. When they do, those of us who still believe in diplomacy, fairness, and global cooperation must be ready—not just to rebuild, but to ensure we never teeter on this edge again.
Stay safe, Always Care
Hi! I’m Paul. I was born, raised, and currently live in Canada. After high school, I embarked on a gap year in Europe. It lasted four decades. I went to university in Norway and started my hotel career in the basement of a five-star hotel in Oslo. The manager who hired me told me I was too old, too educated, and had too many opinions to be a security guard. He also told me that the only other person who applied for the job didn’t want it.
Thirty years later, I left that same company. It had grown from a small regional hotel chain in Scandinavia to become a large, global, multi-brand company. I moved from Norway to Denmark to Belgium. The company awarded me their highest individual honour for leadership, and security professional peers selected me as the world’s most influential corporate security executive.
I’m a hospitality professional. I’m a security professional. If you ask, I will tell you that security was my job, and hospitality was my business.
Today, I’m an educator and a consultant passionate about hotels, hospitality, and keeping people safe during their travels.
In addition to the Always Care Community, I also write for Risk Resiliency’s Keep Travel Safe. If safe, secure hospitality, hotels, and travel are important to you, please follow us there!
Written with the clarity of hindsight, the accuracy of a faded memory, and countless creative liberties, this is a newsletter of how life has made me an emigrant, an immigrant, and gifted me experiences I never dreamed possible.
Thanks for reading. Your support is my motivation and I’m genuinely grateful that you’re here. Please share, subscribe, and connect with me.
Hi Paul, indeed you had a front row seat in major events! In the title you mention “the road ahead”. What do you think that is?