Friends, big donors often get cushy ambassadorships, to chagrin of lifers
Chicago Tribune Nov 14, 08 3:00 PM CST
(Newser)
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Could Barack Obama make Oprah Winfrey an ambassador? It’s an all-too-plausible scenario, the Chicago Tribune reports, assuming Winfrey was willing to leave her TV career. Presidents typically give out roughly a third of the 200 ambassadorships to friends and political allies, and, in a first, the American Academy of Diplomacy has asked Obama to rein in such patronage.
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3 charged with backing FARC drug runners, as tensions mount
Wall Street Journal Sep 13, 08 5:48 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Escalating the diplomatic crisis with Venezuela, the US has frozen the assets of three members of Hugo Chavez's inner circle it accuses of having links with drug-running Colombian rebels, the Wall Street Journal r eports. The sanctions follow the expulsion by Venezuela and Bolivia of their US ambassadors—a move the State Department slammed yesterday as a "weak and desperate" attempt to distract restive citizens.
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New incentives could bring Tehran to table, enrichment freeze
Wall Street Journal Jul 2, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Iran’s foreign minister turned heads yesterday with optimistic talk about nuclear negotiations with the international community, the Wall Street Journal reports. Tehran is “carefully examining” an offer of economic incentives, Manouchehr Mottaki said, and won’t rule out halting enrichment work during negotiations. “We see the potential for a new round of talks,” he said, with both sides trying to “arrive at a new modality.”
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Taliban boasts
attack proves
group's power
Reuters Apr 27, 08 8:38 AM CDT
(Newser)
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One person was killed and 11 wounded in a Taliban attack this morning in Kabul aimed at assassinating Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The president escaped the rockets and gunfire unhurt. The attack occurred as Karzai, government ministers, foreign diplomats, and military top brass gathered for the 16th anniversary of the fall of the Afghan communist government. All diplomats and cabinet members were safe, according to officials.
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Yanks face orders
to fill understaffed
Bagdad embassy
CNN Apr 16, 08 4:28 AM CDT
(Newser)
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American diplomats may be forced to serve in Iraq if enough qualified candidates don't come forward voluntarily, reports CNN. The US embassy in Baghdad is chronically short-staffed, and the State Department has threatened that no other diplomatic jobs will be filled until the Baghdad bureau is up to speed. A similar threat last year, eventually withdrawn, drew huge protests among the foreign service.
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Building cleaned up, but bears scars from last week's violent protests
Reuters Feb 27, 08 12:56 PM CST
(Newser)
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Workers were still cleaning up damage from last week’s violent demonstrations when the US embassy in Belgrade reopened today, Reuters reports. Protesters set fire to and ransacked the building last Thursday to protest the US’ support of Kosovo in the province's declaration of independence. Now, though the building still bears scars, it is once again open for business.
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Career diplomat served as US Ambassador in Tanzania, Turkey & Sri Lanka
Chicago Tribune Jan 6, 08 12:00 PM CST
(Newser)
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James Spain, a career diplomat in the US Foreign Service, passed away of natural causes in Wilmington, NC at age 81 on January 2, 2008. Ambassador Spain's life was devoted to serving his country first in the US Army as a photographer on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff in occupied Japan and then as a career foreign service officer.
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Top US diplomat in
talks as humanitarian crisis grows
BBC Jan 5, 08 6:08 AM CST
(Newser)
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Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki today pledged to form a unity government, after talks with the top US diplomat for Africa aimed at solving the country's violent post-election crisis, the BBC reports. Jendayi Frazer met first with opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has said he will not negotiate unless Kibaki steps down. Another meeting is planned.
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Pair accused of meeting, paying
Taliban leaders
Reuters Dec 27, 07 11:50 AM CST
(Newser)
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Two veteran diplomats left Afghanistan today after failing to refute accusations that they’d met with the Taliban, Reuters reports. A UN spokesman said the men were only “speaking to people on the ground,” and would return, but Afghan officials were resolute about barring the EU and UN reps. "They had met with leaders of suicide attacks," said one.
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First Lady didn't handle intel but was a presidential sounding board
New York Times Dec 26, 07 4:33 PM CST
(Newser)
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Hillary Clinton spent her 8 years in the White House informally advising her husband and jetting around the world mediating social crises, the New York Times says, but the first lady had little direct experience with war or terrorism. She didn’t do “the heavy lifting of foreign policy,” snipes an ex-Clinton State Department official who’s now supporting Barack Obama.
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Diplomatic row over alleged Taliban meeting
BBC Dec 26, 07 7:43 AM CST
(Newser)
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European officials were scrambling today to block Afghanistan's ordered expulsion of two high-ranking foreign officials because of an alleged link to Taliban insurgents, the BBC reports. Afghan authorities claim that the men, one an Irish envoy from the EU and the other a British UN official, met with Taliban members and gave them money. The order follows revelations in the media that British intelligence operatives secretly met with the Taliban last summer.
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Ex-ambassador quits: 'More benefits for pets'
Washington Post Dec 5, 07 6:11 AM CST
(Newser)
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The former US ambassador to Romania has quit the Foreign Service to protest its treatment of gays, the Washington Post reports. Michael E. Guest had some parting shots for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the system that he said gives same-sex partners of members of the Foreign Service fewer benefits than family pets. Guest said he has been trying to persuade Rice to make changes for years.
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First Pyongyang official lays groundwork for permanent presence
Chosun Ilbo (South Korea) Nov 26, 07 10:05 AM CST
(Newser)
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Washington has had a "permanent" diplomat stationed in Pyongyang since mid-month, a source tells the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, marking the first time a US official has been assigned full-time to North Korea. The move is seen as a precursor to possible normalization of relations between the US and North Korea.
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Lack of volunteers spurs biggest call-up since Vietnam War
Associated Press Oct 27, 07 7:33 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Lacking volunteers for dozens of vacancies at the US Embassy in Baghdad, the State Department is set to order its diplomats to serve one-year postings in Iraq. Those selected for the postings will be notified Monday; if not enough take the bait, assignments will be made mandatory, on pain of dismissal, AP reports.
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Immunity for guards was 'a bomb that could go off at any time'
Los Angeles Times Oct 7, 07 8:02 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The White House ignored signals about Blackwater and other private mercs for years, rejecting the idea that they were "a bomb that could go off at any time," the Los Angeles Times reports. One official says that contract guards blatantly smashed property and scared Iraqis, then argued that they should all be treated like terrorists. "If they weren't terrorists before, they certainly are now," the official says.
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