From truce in the trenches to cocktails at the consulate: How Christmas diplomacy seeks to exploit seasonal goodwill |
President Donald Trump is reportedly setting his sights on a Christmas peace deal in the Ukraine-Russia war.
The timing is apt. Every December, political leaders reach instinctively for the language of goodwill. Meanwhile, diplomats the world over use the season to host parties at which gift-giving and booze are used to help foster friendships.
The notion that the holiday season might bring a respite from conflict has deep roots in history. Medieval “Christmas peace” laws in northern Europe at one point punished crimes committed during the season with harsher penalties, enshrining in law a cultural sense of expectation for quiet and restraint.
Finland still reads the Declaration of Christmas Peace each Christmas Eve – a ceremonial reminder of an older hope that violence might briefly ebb.
Today’s “Christmas diplomacy” – that is, a range of statements and efforts to encourage peace and warm relations between nations — updates the tradition for statecraft.
Sometimes, such diplomacy really........