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@FundacioI For my first Twitter thread I thought I'd discuss some observations about Biden's press readouts with foreign leaders and what clues they offer about his administration's foreign policy 1/
The readouts I will refer to include those dealing with Biden’s phone calls whilst still president-elect and his calls since assuming the presidency. I will also briefly discuss State and Pentagon readouts 2/
Despite these calls receiving considerable attention in the news, w/commentators discussing their importance and putting them under the microscope, they receive little attention in academic publications @SHAFRhistorians 3/
For example, journals focused on diplomatic history and the US presidency have avoided, as far as I can tell, examining the diplomacy that occurs with the president-elect during the lame duck period 4/
Similarly, despite content analysts, and pseudo-content analysts, examining the phone call readouts of the president-elect and in the early days of the new administration, I’ve not seen any academic work on methodology 5/
Throwing caution to the wind I look forward to sharing some thoughts on these matters and hope they will be of interest 6/
When examining the readouts I’ve been struck by several things: Which leaders receive calls. In which order. Which don’t receive calls. What subjects are raised. What subjects appear in US but not foreign govt readouts and vice versa 7/
Also: how this admin differs from earlier ones, any changes from president-elect period readouts to those after the inauguration, and similarities and differences between WH and State/Pentagon calls 8/
So here goes.... 9/
Reading the news this morning, I was struck by a reference to Biden's call w/ the Japanese PM dealing with Senkakus. I then checked the readout which mentions the Senkakus as falling under Article V treaty commitments 10/
This reflected a shift from readout of November call which did not mention Senkakus, despite the fact the Japanese readout from the earlier call mentioning them 11/
Was the lack of earlier reference deliberately intended not to create a diplomatic stir w/China? Or a simple oversight? Given the care taken with the language in the readouts, my guess is the former 12/
Regarding China, which most international affairs scholars view as the elephant in the room, it is notable that no call has yet occurred between Biden and Xi, although Biden has now spoken with Putin, but in neither case prior to inauguration 13/
As for Biden's call with Putin, it has been observed that the WH and Kremlin readouts seem to be discussing two very different things. Indeed, it seems as they were speaking past each other 14/
In the WH readout, there was no mention of the Open Skies Treaty, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program, Ukraine, or Russian proposal for UNSC summit 15/
By contrast, Kremlin phone call readout avoids mention of SolarWinds hack, reports of Russia placing bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 United States election, and the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny 16/
