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James Morrison

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James Morrison

jmorrison@washingtontimes.com

James Morrison joined the The Washington Times in 1983 as a local reporter covering Alexandria, Va. A year later, he was assigned to open a Times bureau in Canada. From 1987 to 1989, Mr. Morrison was The Washington Times reporter in London, covering Britain, Western Europe and NATO issues. After returning to Washington, he served as an assistant foreign editor until his transfer to the Metro desk as the Virginia editor. Mr. Morrison returned to the Foreign Desk in 1993 to launch the Embassy Row column, a diplomatic news column primarily focusing on foreign ambassadors in the United States and U.S. ambassadors abroad. The column is the only one of its kind in U.S. journalism.
Mr. Morrison was born on Nov. 27, 1950, in Charleston, W.Va. His father worked as a printer for the Charleston Gazette and later relocated to Washington to work as a photo engraver at The Washington Post until his retirement. Before joining The Washington Times, James Morrison was a reporter for the Springfield, Va., Times, the Northern Virginia Sun and the Alexandria Gazette. He attended American University.

Articles by James Morrison

Embassy Row

Liberia's former ambassador to the United States is planning to challenge one of the world's most influential women when he returns to his West African homeland after Christmas to run against President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

December 21, 2010

Embassy Row

Nearly one-third of Muslim college students in Britain support killing in the name of religion, while 40 percent want to live under Islamic law, according to a secret cable from the U.S. Embassy in London that reviewed public polling data and government population predictions.

December 19, 2010

Embassy Row

Britain's outspoken Prince Andrew shocked the U.S. ambassador in the Kyrgyz Republic with "astonishingly candid" comments at a hotel brunch, when he compared France to corrupt Central Asian governments, complained about meddling journalists and proclaimed a new round of the "Great Game" between London and Moscow for influence in the region.

December 16, 2010

**FILE** A Kenyan man sits in a destroyed truck used as a makeshift roadblock while a tire burns on the vehicle's roof in Kisumu, Kenya, in late January 2008, a month of violence after disputed elections. (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

Kenya risks a violent backlash worse than the political upheaval after the 2007 presidential election that left up to 1,500 dead, unless the East African nation adopts "significant reforms" that include ending the "culture of impunity" for top politicians like the president and prime minister, the U.S. ambassador in Nairobi warned in a confidential report earlier this year.

December 14, 2010

Embassy Row

A secret cable from the U.S. Embassy in Honduras described former President Manuel Zelaya as a corrupt politician with links to organized crime a year before President Obama rushed to his defense after the Honduran Congress and courts removed Mr. Zelaya from office and created a diplomatic crisis in the Western Hemisphere.

December 12, 2010

Embassy Row

Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe will "cling to power" for as long as possible, and a popular revolt against him would result in a bloodbath, according to a former U.S. ambassador to the southern African nation that Mr. Mugabe has ruined through disastrous economic and racial policies since 1980.

December 9, 2010

**FILE** German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Embassy Row

After only five months in Berlin, the U.S. ambassador to Germany was "astonished" at the depth of "paranoia" among German politicians over suspected U.S. foreign policies, even conservative allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

December 7, 2010

Embassy Row

Europe fears that the WikiLeaks scandal will undermine confidence in U.S. diplomatic security, as the unauthorized release of hundreds of thousands of secret documents foreshadows a cyberthreat facing NATO nations, a top Hungarian official said on a visit to Washington.

December 5, 2010

Embassy Row

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fears flying over water, likes to watch flamenco dancers, insists on staying on the ground floor of hotels when he travels and never leaves home without his "voluptuous blonde" Ukrainian nurse, who might be having an affair with the "world's longest-serving dictator."

December 2, 2010

Embassy Row

In February, Turkey privately expressed opposition to increased sanctions on Iran but acknowledged that the entire Middle East is worried about the theocratic regime developing nuclear weapons.

November 30, 2010

Embassy Row

American ambassadors around the world are warning of damage to U.S. foreign policy from another secret-document dump Sunday by the website WikiLeaks, which was widely denounced after releasing classified reports in July and October that endangered informants in Afghanistan and Iraq.

November 28, 2010

Embassy Row

The ancient Eastern European nation of Moldova was buffeted throughout its long history, repeatedly invaded by Goths, Huns, Mongols and Romans, and later coveted by Ottoman Turks, Nazis and the Soviet Union.

November 25, 2010

Embassy Row

An attack on a Russian opposition leader who testified before Congress last week has refocused attention on a bill to impose a U.S. travel ban on dozens of Russian officials suspected of complicity in the death of a Russian human rights lawyer in a Moscow prison last year.

November 23, 2010

**FILE** U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson shakes hands with Sister Constance Murphy before presenting a letter of congratulations from President Obama at the Convent of Sisters of St. John the Divine in Toronto on Dec. 4, 2009. (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

The U.S. ambassador in Canada, a political ally of President Obama's, appears to be sending mixed messages about the Republican takeover of the House in the midterm elections.

November 21, 2010

Embassy Row

A former British ambassador who served in Washington through the critical years before the Iraq war gave rave reviews Thursday to the new book by President George W. Bush, calling "Decision Points" interesting and readable "with frequent flashes of humor."

November 18, 2010

Embassy Row

The U.S. ambassador in Kenya announced Tuesday a ban on four top government officials and a businessman from traveling to the United States because of suspected connections to drug smugglers he compared to "infectious rats."

November 16, 2010

Embassy Row

A former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic is accusing the country's deputy finance minister, who is in charge of fighting corruption, of asking for a bribe two years ago to settle a business dispute.

November 14, 2010

Embassy Row

A top Bulgarian official scolded the U.S. ambassador in Sofia after the American envoy complained that Bulgaria is ignoring an offer from a U.S.-based oil company to develop vast amounts of natural gas from shale deposits.

November 9, 2010

Embassy Row

The new ambassador from Jamaica means business, literally.

November 7, 2010

Embassy Row

The Russian Embassy is in mourning for Victor S. Chernomyrdin, prime minister of the Russian Federation from 1992 to 1998.

November 4, 2010