I always enjoy Buno's assessment of American foreign policy. This is a particularly insightful one @ DIPLO DENIZEN The Broken Washington Foreign Policy Machine
U.S. diplomats abroad receive instructions directly from the White House via text messages. The State Department has become so larded with useless political appointees as to become utterly dysfunctional and irrelevant. A record number of ambassadorships (overwhelmingly in key NATO and EU countries) are auctioned off to moneybag twits. In Orwellian language, politically appointed managers at the State Department seek to make the country's highly capable diplomatic vanguard, the Foreign Service, disappear. A bloated NSC staff of largely political operatives, headed by an abrasive Advisor with ecumenical gifts for offensiveness, makes policy in a strategic and bureaucratic vacuum. Embarrassing flip-flops are made on Syria and Ukraine policies -- often blindsiding State and the Pentagon. Saudis, Egyptians, Gulfies AND Israelis are all pissed at us. What gives? Our foreign policy machinery is broken. And the consequent risks for serious missteps endangering our national security are commensurately heightened.
And the above is just a start!
U.S. diplomats abroad receive instructions directly from the White House via text messages. The State Department has become so larded with useless political appointees as to become utterly dysfunctional and irrelevant. A record number of ambassadorships (overwhelmingly in key NATO and EU countries) are auctioned off to moneybag twits. In Orwellian language, politically appointed managers at the State Department seek to make the country's highly capable diplomatic vanguard, the Foreign Service, disappear. A bloated NSC staff of largely political operatives, headed by an abrasive Advisor with ecumenical gifts for offensiveness, makes policy in a strategic and bureaucratic vacuum. Embarrassing flip-flops are made on Syria and Ukraine policies -- often blindsiding State and the Pentagon. Saudis, Egyptians, Gulfies AND Israelis are all pissed at us. What gives? Our foreign policy machinery is broken. And the consequent risks for serious missteps endangering our national security are commensurately heightened.
And the above is just a start!
