Resisting the “Great Game”: Power-Political Dispatches from Fiji
This is part one of my travelog from Track II diplomacy in the Pacific. I have no idea how many of these I’ll have time to write but thanks for reading! ✌️
Being too physically close to things has a way of distorting your judgment—one of the meta reasons I moved about as far away from Washington as I could.
But seeing a place for the first time, with the fresh eyes of a bona fide foreigner, can also reshape how you see everything. For a guy who has spent a lot of time in the Pacific, I’ve actually spent very little time in the Pacific Islands per se.
So when I was asked to speak at a Track 2 dialogue supporting the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji, I jumped at the chance.1 That’s my big secret mission; that’s what I’m doing out here right now if you’re one of the people tracking my social media.
And this is my first time visiting this beautifully complicated country. On arrival, I initially stayed in a little resort area called Denarau, close to Fiji’s main international airport in Nadi. I booked in at the Sofitel there, and boy did it impress.
