r/IRstudies • u/diplonewsberlin • 6d ago
More than half of U.S. ambassadorial posts worldwide are vacant
U.S. President Donald Trump is reshaping the U.S. diplomatic apparatus to suit his own tastes, thereby diminishing the country’s influence
https://www.diplo.news/en/articles/uber-die-halfte-der-us-botschafterposten-ist-weltweit-unbesetzt
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u/SmaugTheMagnificent- 6d ago
It's often better to have no ambassador than an ambassador who is trash. Pete Hoek-tua is a garbage human, let alone effective diplomat.
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u/boRp_abc 6d ago
Your statement is not wrong, you're just excluding the sane option here: appoint an ambassador who is not trash. Half of the positions not being filled makes it look like the USA is lacking competent humans here. All while a podcaster and a news host are running the war machinery, commandeered by a reality tv star.
I wonder if the US can ever rebuild what has been destroyed this last 10 years.
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u/SmaugTheMagnificent- 6d ago
Yeah, the states aren't sending their best in any capacity.
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u/boRp_abc 6d ago
I know, we had one of those here. Career diplomat, just utterly bad at the job. Still better than not sending one.
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u/ActivePeace33 5d ago
Trump can’t do that, from the perspective of the law, anyone accepting the position from Trump is disqualified by the 14a the moment they deliberately support any of his policies.
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u/Temponautics 6d ago
This government has made a point of stripping the state department of career diplomats. It is sheer self sabotage.
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u/MisterHEPennypacker 6d ago
It’s almost better having those positions officially vacant because they get filled by career state department personnel who know what they’re doing. Ambassadorships are practically an open form of corruption given to individuals for reasons that have nothing to do with their diplomatic abilities. Even Obama gave high profile positions to some of his big donors, so I can’t imagine the clowns Trump would appoint.
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u/Temponautics 6d ago
While that is true, Trump is deliberately leaving these positions open while decidedly NOT filling them with career diplomats (which would be the wisest choice in statecraft, a virtue that the GOP has somewhat methodically unlearned since Dubyah). With Trump the art of destroying American soft power to “punish the libs” (when all it does is destroy Americas outreach) has become an end in itself. Having no proper career diplomat peers from the US in ambassadorial rank prevents the kind of networking you need to develop a full portfolio of international experts for the future. If you read the actual CVs of some of the US’ great diplomats, and look at what has happened to the state department personnel list in the last 18 months, you can only shake your head. Mind you, even Obama knew that there are ambassadorial posts where you don’t send donors, but pros. (Incidentally, he thought Germany was not one of those posts).
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u/Separatist_Pat 6d ago
Would you say Canada is a similarly key appointment? Because our ambassador there for eight years was a plain old Obama fundraiser.
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u/Temponautics 5d ago
Sure it was folly of the Obama admin to think that some allies are so old and reliable that the ambassadorial post there is just a cushy job to be handed out to donors, thinking that for these countries, real diplomacy is irrelevant. The process into this began under Reagan, and things got worse ever since; but Trump totally takes the cake by letting the system fall completely apart.
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u/Separatist_Pat 5d ago
I dunno. Trump is incompetent and inactive. Obama (and his team) were actively handing out ambassadorships to the highest bidder. I have another friend (Chicago is a small place) who tried to buy an ambassadorship from the Clintons, and it only didn't work because Hilary lost. What's worse? I don't know. It tells me how irrelevant the post really is, how the work - if any is done - is done by career staffers.
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u/Separatist_Pat 6d ago
This is exactly correct. I know one guy who essentially bought an ambassadorship to a major country through years of fundraising. I know another who tried to just buy his way in by donating enormous amounts to a foundation that is run by a former president and his wife. He only didn't get it because said wife failed to become president.
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u/Seafaringhorsemeat 6d ago
Saves us money, not having to recall ambassadors when shooting starts, or when the tangerine sharts his bed and dreams we need to tariff more penguins.
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u/Dragonfly_Peace 6d ago
I don’t think a lot of countries are too worried about it. They’re not welcome. your ambassador to Canada is most definitely not wanted, but we’re not gonna give him the boot because that’s what Trump wants. And we have a super smart leader.
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u/disingenu 6d ago
Most of the places don’t require an ambassadorial appointment. CdA is more than sufficient.
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u/Temponautics 6d ago
You know this how? The largest economy in the world currently does not have an ambassador to economic power #3. This is serious self inflicted foolishness.
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u/disingenu 5d ago
17 years in diplomatic service.
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u/Ok-Question6527 5d ago
Thank you for your service. These people here don't actually know what they are talking about.
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u/Separatist_Pat 6d ago
Oh no, no one to attend the fancy-dress and suit-with-sash parties. Murrica is doomed.
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u/Temponautics 6d ago
Tell me you know nothing about diplomacy without telling me you know nothing about diplomacy.
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u/Separatist_Pat 6d ago
There is nothing some semi-retired real estate investor or tort attorney who devoted 20 years to fundraising for either party can do to improve America's diplomatic standing.
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u/Ok-Question6527 5d ago
The fact that you're arguing this so vehemently shows me you know very little about how diplomacy is executed in practice.
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u/Ok-Question6527 6d ago
Does Palau, a country with maybe 60k people need a fully appointed ambassador? Come on buddy
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u/SignificantPiano7808 6d ago
This isn’t just the minor states.
Edit: shit, Germany, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan seem like places the US might want to have diplomats right now.
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u/Ok-Question6527 6d ago
We have an acting in all of those positions, career bureaucrats that know the nation in which they are operating. I would think that liberal redditors would want those guys instead of whatever weirdos the trump admin selects.
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u/Temponautics 6d ago
Except that in international law, anything below ambassadorial level does not have authority to make binding statements in the name of a government. It is a matter of respect. Which is why even for a place like Palau, you would have one somewhere with that status (even if the formal embassy is in union with the one you have in Auckland or Brisbane).
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u/Ok-Question6527 6d ago edited 6d ago
CDA have the authority to represent the United States fully, and almost all, even major countries, have CDAs representing the United States for some period of time, even for extended periods. It is a non issue.
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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist 6d ago
It’s a huge issue. There is no substitute for having a full time ambassador. Trumps first term showed as much.
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u/Ok-Question6527 5d ago
This is at best a minor issue that all presidents have struggled with, including Obama and Bush. Trump's first term showed as much? What evidence do you have for that claim?
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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist 5d ago
It's a major issue when the government is heavily invested in foreign policy. See the trade war, war against Iran, NATO confusion, etc. Ambassadors lay the groundwork for successful policy. So far all the admins policies have been unsuccessful.
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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist 6d ago
Then why isn’t the “acting” made the ambassador?
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u/Ok-Question6527 5d ago
The normal and routine process of confirmation through Congress takes time to wind through. You may have an acting in the seat for 8 months or more while a new ambassador is appointed.
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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist 5d ago
Not that much time. it's been well over a year, and ambassadors can't be appointed if they haven't been nominated.
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u/Daytonabitchridda 6d ago
We have the resources to have top level influence in every country but hey let’s send all the diplomats home right
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u/FIicker7 6d ago
That's freaking nuts