Goldstein in The Washington Post on Trump-Morrison Phone Call
Erik Goldstein, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed for a recent article examining a phone call between United States President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in which Trump asked Morrison to cooperate with U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr’s inquiry into the origins of the investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
Goldstein was interviewed for an October 2, 2019 article in The Washington Post entitled “Australian Leader Defends Trump Call as ‘Fairly Uneventful,’ But Opponents Demand Transcript.”
From the text of the article:
To extend such an invitation indicates that both Trump and his top aides value close ties with Morrison, said Erik Goldstein, a professor at Boston University who researches diplomacy and has studied state dinners.
Goldstein said there are a number of ways to interpret Trump’s overtures to the Australian leader.
“One is Morrison has done something to help Trump and this is the reward, in a way, or that Trump is clearly trying to buy goodwill upfront for something that he’s going to want,” he said.
Either way, the White House is “obviously trying to strengthen that [relationship] by helping Morrison increase his profile in Australia by being given this very high level of reception,” he said.
Erik Goldstein is the author of numerous works on the peace settlement, including two books, Winning the Peace: British Diplomatic Strategy, Peace Planning, and the Paris Peace Conference, 1916-1920 and The First World Wars Peace Settlements: International Relations, 1918-25.His research interests include diplomacy, formulation of national diplomatic strategies, the origins and resolution of armed conflict, and negotiation. He has published in numerous journals, including Review of International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, East European Quarterly, Historical Research, Historical Journal, Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, and the Hague Journal of Diplomacy.