Timothy Garton Ash is among the most civilized writers on international affairs, if we use the word "civilized" to denote something akin to table manners. He is well-informed and dispassionate. He is a conversationalist more than a debater, always polite in expressing disapproval, or more characteristically, associating himself with others' disapproval. As a writer, he combines that old-world charm, with a mild new-world hipness. He comments and does not advise, he has no intrusive "agenda", and because he is a very talented observer, his reports from the field are invariably worth reading.
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