U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has kicked off his first month in the job with a blaze of diplomacy.
As part of his effort to re-energize American alliances frayed by the Donald Trump years, Blinken has spoken with dozens of his counterparts around the world and joined gatherings of Asian and European leaders — all without ever leaving his seventh-floor office at the State Department.
As the world struggles to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, most diplomatic travel remains postponed. In ordinary times, Blinken would have hosted a stream of visitors and logged thousands of air miles by now; instead, he has relied on the telephone and video screens, much like Zoom-dependent workers everywhere.