4 ms·

How can you be so confrontational and still want people to give you business and data? I really don't envy the diplomats' job at the moment.

by forinti 8mo ago

ulfw 8mo ago
Most 'diplomats' of the new USA are just grifters like Witkoff or Kushner. Real estate people cosplaying diplomats. The US as the world has known it is gone https://apnews.com/article/france-us-ambassador-kushner-far-right-0e10e3ec131969b1dea25a61cf0b00bc https://apnews.com/article/france-us-ambassador-kushner-far-...
- pjc50 8mo ago
  By no means exclusive to the US (e.g. Peter Mandelson).
  - lostlogin 8mo ago
    We do a mini version of that corruption here in New Zealand too. Owen Glen was a donor who got a diplomatic posting to Monaco. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/key-concerned-murkiness-donation-scandal https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/key-concerned-murkiness-...
  - ragall 8mo ago
    Definitely exclusive to the US due to the degree to which US presidents have been doing it.
- Freak_NL 8mo ago
  Belgium too: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/18/belgium-investigation-jewish-men-diplomatic-row-us-ambassador https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/18/belgium-invest... And of course Joe Popolo in the Netherlands: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/11/displays-black-soldiers-african-american-margraten-cemetery-netherlands https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/11/displays-black... (He later doubled down on the decision to erase any mention of the racial segregation black US soldiers were submitted to while serving in the army during WWII.)
- shantara 8mo ago
  Another example from Denmark: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/28/europe/us-embassy-copenhagen-removes-flags-danish-soldiers-intl https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/28/europe/us-embassy-copenha...
orwin 8mo ago
US 'diplomats' are campaigns big donors, or primary supports. I've eaten with someone who expected to be named diplomat in Europe because he supported Obama by 2007, but was one-uped by a richer donor post-primary.
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago
  > US 'diplomats' are campaigns big donors, or primary supports To be clear, there are political and career diplomats, and each administration mixes and matches to its taste. (The current one veers strongly towards political appointees. That is to say, folks who raised money.) This is how most foreign services are run, with maybe the exception of China.
  - mamonster 8mo ago
    >This is how most foreign services are run, with maybe the exception of China. Absolutely not most. What country in Europe has a significant amount of ambassadors that are not career diplomats / government workers ? In France, Germany, Switzerland you would either need to be a career diplomat/ foreign service worker or in rare cases you would be a career government employee assigned as diplomat to some specific country for some reason (i.e you were trade minister and become ambassador to your biggest trading partner). The most "political" appointee ambassador in Europe I can think of is Mandelson but he is (as we found out) supremely connected to US power networks and he is still a lifetime politician/ government employee.
    - Tomte 8mo ago
      Former speaker of the chancellor (and TV news anchor before that) is German ambassador to Israel. Next ambassador will be a career politician. It‘s not uncommon, though I‘d say even the „cool posts“ like Paris or London usually go to career diplomats.
      - bondarchuk 8mo ago
        I know nothing about this but JumpCrisscross seems to use "political" to mean "has donated large sums of money" while your use of "political" is more like.. someone who does politics.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
llm_nerd 8mo ago
This administration really, truly lives under the delusion that they hold "all the cards". In every engagement they think it is for them to dictate and everyone else to follow. Any graciousness they show is just kind benevolence. And the "diplomats" of this administration is a rogues gallery of Epstein associates (e.g. pedophile sex-trafficking garbage) and self-dealing criminals. Just a who's-who of garbage. They are sending their absolute worst. Americans are just blissfully unaware how much their country is being destroyed. It's staggering stuff. Even if you're a super conservative, there should be utter embarrassment and outrage about how incompetent and clownish this parade of imbeciles is.
- throwaway27448 8mo ago
  > This administration really, truly lives under the delusion that they hold "all the cards". I think it's simpler than that: they think the world is a zero-sum game, so why bother being anything but utterly confrontational at every turn? Of course, that's a childish way to view the world, but we're a childish people.
  - cindyllm 8mo ago
    [dead]
- bsoles 8mo ago
  "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” - Trump Just replace Mexico with America. There must be some Freudian issue going on with Trump here.
  - JohnFen 8mo ago
    Every accusation this administration makes is a confession.
- yolo3000 8mo ago
  Are you sure it's just 'this administration'? I don't think the memory of America as a bully will go away soon, regardless of who comes into power.
Beretta_Vexee 8mo ago
The US ambassador to France has just had his access to parliamentarians and members of the government withdrawn because he is trying to turn a neo-Nazi who died in a fight into a political martyr. There are similar situations in Belgium and Poland. American diplomats have been doing Trump's dirty work for a some time. I am more concerned about US interference in elections and campaigning for the far right than lobbying for data at the moment.
- Tomte 8mo ago
  "Fight"…
shimman 8mo ago
You should look up the word "imperialism" because it's something countries like to do to extract as much wealth as possible to benefit a few people.
JohnTHaller 8mo ago
The US doesn't have diplomats anymore. Just Republican donors with no experience. Hell, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's dad is a diplomat. A really bad one.
- expedition32 8mo ago
  Ambassadors being rich socialites is a both party problem and it is not new. No the difference is that Trump's ambassadors are directly getting involved in the local politics of their postings. And they're not even hiding it.
  - tehjoker 8mo ago
    It's a "problem" in that it shows very clearly who runs the U.S. system. These are the people actually in charge without a meritocratic gloss to make it seem nicer.
inigyou 8mo ago
It's not about trust, it's about economic power. Like the US threatened to cut off trade with countries that didn't adopt DMCA anticircumvention law, so every country has US DMCA anticircumvention law. They can try something similar with digital sovereignty. It might not work, because everyone is less afraid of getting cut off now.

How can you be so confrontational and still want people to give you business and data? I really don't envy the diplomats' job at the moment.

by forinti 8mo ago

How can you be so confrontational and still want people to give you business and data? I really don't envy the diplomats' job at the moment.

ulfw 8mo ago

Most 'diplomats' of the new USA are just grifters like Witkoff or Kushner. Real estate people cosplaying diplomats. The US as the world has known it is gone https://apnews.com/article/france-us-ambassador-kushner-far-right-0e10e3ec131969b1dea25a61cf0b00bc https://apnews.com/article/france-us-ambassador-kushner-far-...

pjc50 8mo ago
By no means exclusive to the US (e.g. Peter Mandelson).
- lostlogin 8mo ago
  We do a mini version of that corruption here in New Zealand too. Owen Glen was a donor who got a diplomatic posting to Monaco. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/key-concerned-murkiness-donation-scandal https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/key-concerned-murkiness-...
- ragall 8mo ago
  Definitely exclusive to the US due to the degree to which US presidents have been doing it.
Freak_NL 8mo ago
Belgium too: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/18/belgium-investigation-jewish-men-diplomatic-row-us-ambassador https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/18/belgium-invest... And of course Joe Popolo in the Netherlands: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/11/displays-black-soldiers-african-american-margraten-cemetery-netherlands https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/11/displays-black... (He later doubled down on the decision to erase any mention of the racial segregation black US soldiers were submitted to while serving in the army during WWII.)
shantara 8mo ago
Another example from Denmark: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/28/europe/us-embassy-copenhagen-removes-flags-danish-soldiers-intl https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/28/europe/us-embassy-copenha...

orwin 8mo ago

US 'diplomats' are campaigns big donors, or primary supports. I've eaten with someone who expected to be named diplomat in Europe because he supported Obama by 2007, but was one-uped by a richer donor post-primary.

JumpCrisscross 8mo ago
> US 'diplomats' are campaigns big donors, or primary supports To be clear, there are political and career diplomats, and each administration mixes and matches to its taste. (The current one veers strongly towards political appointees. That is to say, folks who raised money.) This is how most foreign services are run, with maybe the exception of China.
- mamonster 8mo ago
  >This is how most foreign services are run, with maybe the exception of China. Absolutely not most. What country in Europe has a significant amount of ambassadors that are not career diplomats / government workers ? In France, Germany, Switzerland you would either need to be a career diplomat/ foreign service worker or in rare cases you would be a career government employee assigned as diplomat to some specific country for some reason (i.e you were trade minister and become ambassador to your biggest trading partner). The most "political" appointee ambassador in Europe I can think of is Mandelson but he is (as we found out) supremely connected to US power networks and he is still a lifetime politician/ government employee.
  - Tomte 8mo ago
    Former speaker of the chancellor (and TV news anchor before that) is German ambassador to Israel. Next ambassador will be a career politician. It‘s not uncommon, though I‘d say even the „cool posts“ like Paris or London usually go to career diplomats.
    - bondarchuk 8mo ago
      I know nothing about this but JumpCrisscross seems to use "political" to mean "has donated large sums of money" while your use of "political" is more like.. someone who does politics.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

llm_nerd 8mo ago

This administration really, truly lives under the delusion that they hold "all the cards". In every engagement they think it is for them to dictate and everyone else to follow. Any graciousness they show is just kind benevolence. And the "diplomats" of this administration is a rogues gallery of Epstein associates (e.g. pedophile sex-trafficking garbage) and self-dealing criminals. Just a who's-who of garbage. They are sending their absolute worst. Americans are just blissfully unaware how much their country is being destroyed. It's staggering stuff. Even if you're a super conservative, there should be utter embarrassment and outrage about how incompetent and clownish this parade of imbeciles is.

throwaway27448 8mo ago
> This administration really, truly lives under the delusion that they hold "all the cards". I think it's simpler than that: they think the world is a zero-sum game, so why bother being anything but utterly confrontational at every turn? Of course, that's a childish way to view the world, but we're a childish people.
- cindyllm 8mo ago
  [dead]
bsoles 8mo ago
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” - Trump Just replace Mexico with America. There must be some Freudian issue going on with Trump here.
- JohnFen 8mo ago
  Every accusation this administration makes is a confession.
yolo3000 8mo ago
Are you sure it's just 'this administration'? I don't think the memory of America as a bully will go away soon, regardless of who comes into power.

Beretta_Vexee 8mo ago

The US ambassador to France has just had his access to parliamentarians and members of the government withdrawn because he is trying to turn a neo-Nazi who died in a fight into a political martyr. There are similar situations in Belgium and Poland. American diplomats have been doing Trump's dirty work for a some time. I am more concerned about US interference in elections and campaigning for the far right than lobbying for data at the moment.

Tomte 8mo ago
"Fight"…

shimman 8mo ago

You should look up the word "imperialism" because it's something countries like to do to extract as much wealth as possible to benefit a few people.

JohnTHaller 8mo ago

The US doesn't have diplomats anymore. Just Republican donors with no experience. Hell, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's dad is a diplomat. A really bad one.

expedition32 8mo ago
Ambassadors being rich socialites is a both party problem and it is not new. No the difference is that Trump's ambassadors are directly getting involved in the local politics of their postings. And they're not even hiding it.
- tehjoker 8mo ago
  It's a "problem" in that it shows very clearly who runs the U.S. system. These are the people actually in charge without a meritocratic gloss to make it seem nicer.

inigyou 8mo ago

It's not about trust, it's about economic power. Like the US threatened to cut off trade with countries that didn't adopt DMCA anticircumvention law, so every country has US DMCA anticircumvention law. They can try something similar with digital sovereignty. It might not work, because everyone is less afraid of getting cut off now.