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This was most of the Cablegate leaks - not scandals, but these kinds of peeks into the opinions of very smart State Department officials regarding assorted fore
by azernik 10y ago
This was most of the Cablegate leaks - not scandals, but these kinds of peeks into the opinions of very smart State Department officials regarding assorted foreign countries. (The scandals usually involved foreign allies that the State Department doesn't think too highly of, like many of the Arab dictatorships that soon after experienced the Arab Spring.)
- walshemj 10y agoA British Ambassador leaving his post was encouraged to write what was known as a valedictory despatch, to be circulated to a small number of influential people in government. This was the parting shot, an opportunity to offer a personal and frank view of the host country, the manners and morals of its people, their institutions, the state of their cooking and their drains. But it was also a chance to let rip at the Foreign Office itself and to look back on a career spent in the service of a sometimes ungrateful nation. They where normally quite blunt there is a great book collating some of the best https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parting-Shots-Matthew-Parris/dp/0670919292 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parting-Shots-Matthew-Parris/dp/067...