American Diplomat

Bill Burns, one of our favorite guests, is shortlisted for Secretary of State in the Biden administration. Go, Bill! We're reposting our discussion with him from last year about his book "The Back Channel," which is even more timely now than it was when it was first published. Plus, Pete has a story about his recent visit to Trumpland.  Enjoy!

We're on hiatus until January - so we want to hear from you as we look ahead to future programming.  Send us your questions, ideas, comments at amdipstories@gmail.org, on Facebook or at www.amdipstories.org.  And enjoy a rerun, a propos of this week's election, of "The Man of My Dreams."  See you soon!

April 7, 1994, Rwanda. Not a good day to be mistaken for the acting Prime Minister. Linda Thomas-Greenfield shares the tale of her escape from the anti-government militia, while millions of others perished in the country's genocide.

"I respect your culture, but I do not believe it is your culture to allow women to die," says Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to the Taliban. And do you know what the Taliban did after that? And why? Listen to find out. Go, Linda!

Hugo Rodriguez, from the banana business in Latin America to the US Foreign Service. Machetes, scorpions, poisonous snakes, starting work at four am in the fruit fields...how does this prepare someone to help bring education to American-born children of Mexican citizens in Mexico? And why does the United States care about these kids anyway?

There's a gray area in judging the actions of ambassadors, whether political appointee or career.  What's the difference between what is illegal, inappropriate, or, more to the point, truly unethical?  Harry Geisel puts his subtle mind to the task.  

What's the difference between a political appointee ambassador and a career ambassador? Increasingly, these ambassadorships are offered as rewards for large political campaign contributions. How can these appointments go awry? Harry Geisel helps us count the ways. 

9/11/2012, Benghazi, Libya, an attack on our diplomatic mission, killing four, including our ambassador. The legendary Tom Pickering led the first investigation (of ten), and it was not a pleasant report to write. But, as a consequence of these events, is the world's strongest power now the world's blindest power?

And neither is worldwide democracy, thanks in part to the very fine-tipped pen and tiny notebook of Ambassador William Taylor, a key source in the Congressional investigations into the Ukraine corruption affair of the last year.  Democracy lives another day!

Need a mood lifter?  We do!  Laura likes our music selects so much that she's listening to this one twice!  Go back to simpler times (say, 2019) with AmDip, then sing along to our Covid-era theme song.  Love, Pete and Laura