foreignpolicy--2020-10-26--Stay and Starve, or Leave and Die

Stay and Starve, or Leave and Die

Stay and Starve , or Leave and Die Over the past three months , dozens of Syrians who had been living in Jordan were escorted into military vehicles , driven through stretches of arid desert past several security checkpoints , and dumped into a U.S.-controlled no man ’ s land , known as a “ deconfliction zone , ” along the Jordan-Syria border .
Their ultimate destination : Rukban , an informal refugee camp that sits within the U.S.-protected zone .
Rukban is known for its dire humanitarian conditions , an airtight blockade surrounding it , and an apparent deadlock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the United States as to who is responsible for the thousands of civilians who inhabit it .
“ It feels as though I ’ ve been wiped out of existence , ” said Alaa al-Hassan , a 30-year-old Syrian brick mason who requested to go by a pseudonym for his safety .
Hassan said he was deported from southern Jordan to Rukban in September .
In an email statement this month , the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) confirmed that , since July , Jordan had transferred 36 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deported for “ security reasons ” along with some of their family members .
The latest deportation documented by UNHCR occurred on Oct. 6 , and included two refugees .
According to Hassan , he was not given any specific reason for his transfer , nor was he afforded any due process rights .
Now that he is in Rukban , he sleeps on the floor of an empty shack owned by another civilian .
Supplies in the camp are depleted , and like many others in Rukban , Hassan has no source @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the situation is so bad , according to Amnesty International , that some deported refugees have opted to return to government-controlled areas in Syria , where they risk persecution , imprisonment , and death .
In turn , the population in Rukban has dwindled in recent years , from roughly 45,000 in 2018 to an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 today .
But that doesn ’ t make things any easier for those who are sent there .
“ It ’ s an impossible choice , ” Marie Forestier , a Middle East researcher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phone in September .
According to Forestier , these deportation cases constitute a clear violation of international human rights law on the part of the Jordanian government , particularly those prohibiting refoulement , the practice of sending refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they risk facing persecution .
“ One of them told me , ‘ I would rather die here in Rukban ’ ” —where residents have no reliable access to sufficient food and water— “ ‘ than risking my life by going back to Syrian government-controlled areas.
’ ” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in part , to the fraught political wrangle for control over the 34-mile strip of land in which the camp is located .
Situated in a key strategic foothold where the Jordanian , Syrian , and Iraqi borders intersect , the U.S. military presence in the area is centered on the al-Tanf military base , 15 miles from the camp , which headquarters a coalition of garrisoned U.S. soldiers and Pentagon-backed Syrian rebel groups .
Following an attack by the Islamic State in 2016 , Jordan closed its border and restricted humanitarian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government and Russian allied forces have ceaselessly blocked aid to the area in a perceived effort to force coalition forces out , and the United States , which notionally has control over the area , has done close to nothing in terms of providing direct humanitarian assistance to the people of Rukban .
“ It ’ s like a microcosm of the Syrian conflict , ” Sara Kayyali , a Syria researcher for Human Rights Watch who documents violations of humanitarian law in the region , said over the phone in September .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but no one is actually taking responsibility to save these people.
” Last month , Shihab Shukri , a nurse who has been living in Rukban since 2016 , shared stories of those who remain in the camp : a one-year-old child dying after two weeks of persistent diarrhea ; families baking bread over a fire fueled by used diapers and old shoes ; pregnant women forced to journey to government-controlled Syria to undergo necessary cesarean sections .
In a single month last year , eight children under five years old in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ temperatures and inadequate medical care in the wintertime .
“ It ’ s like we are living in the Middle Ages , ” he said .
“ Food , medicine , education—these are all basic essentials .
Here in Rukban , we are deprived of all that.
” Like countless other discussions concerning Rukban , the issue of whether the United States should be delivering aid to the camp ’ s population is a highly contentious one .
When asked about it in an interview last year , the U.S. special envoy to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ the military is a little tired of having everybody else in the U.S. government constantly turning to it to do civilian things , ” and on a separate occasion , he told an audience at the 2019 Aspen Security Forum that feeding Rukban ’ s civilians may give the impression of a long-term presence in the region , which the United States can not commit to .
Robert Ford , who served as the U.S. ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014 , has taken issue with Jeffrey ’ s line of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obligations to refugees living in an area that has been controlled by the United States for the past four years and will be for the foreseeable future .
“ It may or may not be true ” that the United States is going to leave the region soon , Ford explained recently , “ and I personally have advocated getting out of Syria , but as long as we ’ re there , we have this obligation.
” In a legal analysis of the situation , Ford and Carolyn O ’ Connor , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in litigation related to refugees and displaced people , cited Article 55 of the fourth Geneva Convention , which states that occupying powers in international armed conflicts have a duty to ensure food and medical supplies to a population if resources in the areas they control are inadequate .
According to Ford and O ’ Connor , the United States has met every threshold that would trigger the Geneva Convention mandates in this case : It is in an international armed conflict with Syria ( as ruled by the International Committee of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ qualifies as an occupying power ( as that term is defined in the 1907 Hague Convention and the Defense Department ’ s Law of War Manual ) , and resources in Rukban are certainly inadequate .
“ It behooves American policymakers to understand that if you ’ re going to send the U.S. military into a space for whatever political , military , national security mission , this is one part of the cost that you ’ re going to have to bear , ” added Ford .
“ It ’ s flabbergasting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accept this.
” Mohammad Darbas , head of the civilian local council in Rukban and a resident of the camp for the past five years , agrees .
“ An eight-year-old child wouldn ’ t buy their excuses , ” Darbas said in a recent interview .
“ This is a mark of shame on all the allied forces and every nation that claims to be a friend of the Syrian people.
” Others in Rukban , such as Emad Ghali , a 28-year-old civilian journalist who takes on the essential role of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the outside world , are grateful for the security protections the United States provides , but wish for more life-saving aid .
“ Honestly , without their presence , we would be easy targets , ” Ghali said .
“ But we ask them to look at us with an empathetic eye and provide aid—only as much as their responsibility requires them to.
” Although the United States has made clear that the primary mission of al-Tanf is to ward off regional security threats—and officials have repeatedly deferred to that focus as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Rukban—there is no evidence to suggest that military personnel have taken action to prevent these purported security-related deportations to the camp .
Multiple sources in Rukban , including Darbas , have claimed that U.S. forces were made aware of Jordan ’ s deportations as soon as they began taking place in July , and as they continued to occur in the months that followed .
“ If the United States were to take a concerted effort to get more humanitarian assistance to the camp via their presence in Tanf , I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ position to work with the Jordanian government to ensure that additional deportations that might contribute to instability in the camp do not take place , ” said Hardin Lang , vice president at Refugees International , in an October interview .
Lang , a foreign-policy and national-security expert who has led studies on military stabilization efforts , explained that by taking on a more active role in addressing Rukban ’ s humanitarian crisis , the United States could be well positioned to bring a strong degree of international pressure to end these deportations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rukban face an unthinkable decision : Stay and starve , or leave and risk death .
Fearing forced conscription back in Syria , Hassan , the brick mason who was deported to Rukban in September , has decided to stay in the camp .
Along with the rest of its remaining residents , he is bracing for wintertime—a notoriously fatal season in Rukban—and counting down the days until his supplies run out .

Over the past three months, dozens of Syrians who had been living in Jordan were escorted into military vehicles, driven through stretches of arid desert past several security checkpoints, and dumped into a U.S.-controlled no man’s land, known as a “deconfliction zone,” along the Jordan-Syria border. Their ultimate destination: Rukban, an informal refugee camp that sits within the U.S.-protected zone. Rukban is known for its dire humanitarian conditions, an airtight blockade surrounding it, and an apparent deadlock among Jordan, Russia, Syria, and the United States as to who is responsible for the thousands of civilians who inhabit it.
Over the past three months, dozens of Syrians who had been living in Jordan were escorted into military vehicles, driven through stretches of arid desert past several security checkpoints, and dumped into a U.S.-controlled no man’s land, known as a “deconfliction zone,” along the Jordan-Syria border. Their ultimate destination: Rukban, an informal refugee camp that sits within the U.S.-protected zone. Rukban is known for its dire humanitarian conditions, an airtight blockade surrounding it, and an apparent deadlock among Jordan, Russia, Syria, and the United States as to who is responsible for the thousands of civilians who inhabit it.
“It feels as though I’ve been wiped out of existence,” said Alaa al-Hassan, a 30-year-old Syrian brick mason who requested to go by a pseudonym for his safety. Hassan said he was deported from southern Jordan to Rukban in September. In an email statement this month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that, since July, Jordan had transferred 36 Syrians to Rukban, including 12 individuals deported for “security reasons” along with some of their family members. The latest deportation documented by UNHCR occurred on Oct. 6, and included two refugees.
According to Hassan, he was not given any specific reason for his transfer, nor was he afforded any due process rights. Now that he is in Rukban, he sleeps on the floor of an empty shack owned by another civilian. Supplies in the camp are depleted, and like many others in Rukban, Hassan has no source of regular income. In fact, the situation is so bad, according to Amnesty International, that some deported refugees have opted to return to government-controlled areas in Syria, where they risk persecution, imprisonment, and death. In turn, the population in Rukban has dwindled in recent years, from roughly 45,000 in 2018 to an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 today. But that doesn’t make things any easier for those who are sent there.
“It’s an impossible choice,” Marie Forestier, a Middle East researcher at Amnesty International, said over the phone in September. According to Forestier, these deportation cases constitute a clear violation of international human rights law on the part of the Jordanian government, particularly those prohibiting refoulement, the practice of sending refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they risk facing persecution. “One of them told me, ‘I would rather die here in Rukban’”—where residents have no reliable access to sufficient food and water—“‘than risking my life by going back to Syrian government-controlled areas.’”
The deteriorating conditions in Rukban can be attributed, in part, to the fraught political wrangle for control over the 34-mile strip of land in which the camp is located. Situated in a key strategic foothold where the Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi borders intersect, the U.S. military presence in the area is centered on the al-Tanf military base, 15 miles from the camp, which headquarters a coalition of garrisoned U.S. soldiers and Pentagon-backed Syrian rebel groups.
Following an attack by the Islamic State in 2016, Jordan closed its border and restricted humanitarian access to the camp; the Syrian government and Russian allied forces have ceaselessly blocked aid to the area in a perceived effort to force coalition forces out, and the United States, which notionally has control over the area, has done close to nothing in terms of providing direct humanitarian assistance to the people of Rukban. “It’s like a microcosm of the Syrian conflict,” Sara Kayyali, a Syria researcher for Human Rights Watch who documents violations of humanitarian law in the region, said over the phone in September. “Everyone is sympathetic to the plight, but no one is actually taking responsibility to save these people.”
Last month, Shihab Shukri, a nurse who has been living in Rukban since 2016, shared stories of those who remain in the camp: a one-year-old child dying after two weeks of persistent diarrhea; families baking bread over a fire fueled by used diapers and old shoes; pregnant women forced to journey to government-controlled Syria to undergo necessary cesarean sections. In a single month last year, eight children under five years old in the camp reportedly died because of freezing temperatures and inadequate medical care in the wintertime. “It’s like we are living in the Middle Ages,” he said. “Food, medicine, education—these are all basic essentials. Here in Rukban, we are deprived of all that.”
Like countless other discussions concerning Rukban, the issue of whether the United States should be delivering aid to the camp’s population is a highly contentious one. When asked about it in an interview last year, the U.S. special envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said that “the military is a little tired of having everybody else in the U.S. government constantly turning to it to do civilian things,” and on a separate occasion, he told an audience at the 2019 Aspen Security Forum that feeding Rukban’s civilians may give the impression of a long-term presence in the region, which the United States cannot commit to.
Robert Ford, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014, has taken issue with Jeffrey’s line of reasoning, citing both legal and moral obligations to refugees living in an area that has been controlled by the United States for the past four years and will be for the foreseeable future. “It may or may not be true” that the United States is going to leave the region soon, Ford explained recently, “and I personally have advocated getting out of Syria, but as long as we’re there, we have this obligation.”
In a legal analysis of the situation, Ford and Carolyn O’Connor, a Yale Law School graduate who specializes in litigation related to refugees and displaced people, cited Article 55 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which states that occupying powers in international armed conflicts have a duty to ensure food and medical supplies to a population if resources in the areas they control are inadequate. According to Ford and O’Connor, the United States has met every threshold that would trigger the Geneva Convention mandates in this case: It is in an international armed conflict with Syria (as ruled by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2017), it qualifies as an occupying power (as that term is defined in the 1907 Hague Convention and the Defense Department’s Law of War Manual), and resources in Rukban are certainly inadequate.
“It behooves American policymakers to understand that if you’re going to send the U.S. military into a space for whatever political, military, national security mission, this is one part of the cost that you’re going to have to bear,” added Ford. “It’s flabbergasting to me that the Americans refuse to accept this.”
Mohammad Darbas, head of the civilian local council in Rukban and a resident of the camp for the past five years, agrees. “An eight-year-old child wouldn’t buy their excuses,” Darbas said in a recent interview. “This is a mark of shame on all the allied forces and every nation that claims to be a friend of the Syrian people.” Others in Rukban, such as Emad Ghali, a 28-year-old civilian journalist who takes on the essential role of delivering news from within the camp to the outside world, are grateful for the security protections the United States provides, but wish for more life-saving aid. “Honestly, without their presence, we would be easy targets,” Ghali said. “But we ask them to look at us with an empathetic eye and provide aid—only as much as their responsibility requires them to.”
Although the United States has made clear that the primary mission of al-Tanf is to ward off regional security threats—and officials have repeatedly deferred to that focus as a reason for their reluctance to provide aid to Rukban—there is no evidence to suggest that military personnel have taken action to prevent these purported security-related deportations to the camp. Multiple sources in Rukban, including Darbas, have claimed that U.S. forces were made aware of Jordan’s deportations as soon as they began taking place in July, and as they continued to occur in the months that followed.
“If the United States were to take a concerted effort to get more humanitarian assistance to the camp via their presence in Tanf, I’m sure they would be in a position to work with the Jordanian government to ensure that additional deportations that might contribute to instability in the camp do not take place,” said Hardin Lang, vice president at Refugees International, in an October interview. Lang, a foreign-policy and national-security expert who has led studies on military stabilization efforts, explained that by taking on a more active role in addressing Rukban’s humanitarian crisis, the United States could be well positioned to bring a strong degree of international pressure to end these deportations.
For now, those deported to Rukban face an unthinkable decision: Stay and starve, or leave and risk death. Fearing forced conscription back in Syria, Hassan, the brick mason who was deported to Rukban in September, has decided to stay in the camp. Along with the rest of its remaining residents, he is bracing for wintertime—a notoriously fatal season in Rukban—and counting down the days until his supplies run out.


foreignpolicy--2020-10-26--Washington’s Foreign Diplomats Frozen Out by Team Biden

There is a new parlor game that Washington ’ s diplomatic circles are playing with increasing frustration .
It ’ s called : “ Can you crack the Biden foreign-policy team ’ s cone of silence ?
” With the U.S. presidential election a week away , foreign envoys are struggling to breach Biden ’ s inner sanctum of foreign-policy advisors .
Even America ’ s closest allies are finding the door has been slammed shut when they reach out for conversations .
Team Biden has made it clear to foreign diplomats in Washington for the better part of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ top foreign-policy advisors , including Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan , are off-limits for briefings on the campaign ’ s foreign-policy plans , according to four Western diplomats .
The reticence reflects concern that Biden advisors could expose themselves to even hints of allegations that they are meddling in the foreign policy of a sitting president , as Donald Trump ’ s team infamously did four years ago .
During the last transition , Trump ’ s top national security advisor , Michael Flynn , faced charges of trying to undermine the Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an effort to block the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution criticizing Israel .
He was also paid to lobby for a firm that represented the Turkish government ’ s interests while he advised Trump ’ s campaign—an affiliation he did not disclose until after he was fired from the White House .
Flynn ’ s secret December 2016 phone conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak became the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections by special counsel Robert Mueller and the subject of Flynn ’ s firing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ There is a strict prohibition against talking to foreign officials , ” said one official familiar with the Biden campaign ’ s policy .
“ There is a real obsession with just wanting to look different than Trump and not wanting to give the administration any opportunity to say , ‘ Look , they did the same things that we did.
’ ” “ If someone is working full time for the Biden team , then they say explicitly [ they ] can not meet with foreign officials , ” a European @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that much of the former Vice President ’ s record is already out in the open , given his decades of work in Washington .
“ Joe Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee .
He was Vice President of the United States .
He has written articles focused on foreign policy , answered candidate questionnaires and has spoken , publicly , at length in this campaign about his foreign policy priorities if he is elected President : restoring America ’ s role on the world stage , rebuilding our alliances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our common challenges including climate change , ” said Biden campaign spokesperson Bill Russo .
“ For the next 8 days , our campaign will remain fully focused on speaking with the American people about what is at stake in this election , ” added Russo .
The cautious approach marks a dramatic shift from Trump ’ s 2016 campaign team , which hosted meetings with foreign leaders , including then-British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , at Trump Tower in New York City during the transition and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama ’ s foreign-policy agenda during his final months in office .
Democrats anticipate the Trump campaign would cite any contact between foreign government officials and the Biden campaign as evidence they are trying to undermine his foreign-policy agenda—even if those claims were false .
Foreign diplomats said it is routine for embassies to reach out to political parties in allied countries to learn about their policy priorities before elections—which is not the same as Flynn ’ s secretive lobbying for Turkey ’ s interest while on the campaign trail or conversations with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States ’ top global adversaries .
“ There should be a distinction between preparing for when you come into office by having consultations [ with foreign officials ] than actually lobbying foreign officials to undermine the current president , ” one foreign diplomat said .
The Biden campaign ’ s policy—which was previously reported by Politico—has proved frustrating for Washington ’ s foreign diplomatic corps , which has been struggling to coordinate on foreign-policy priorities with the campaign during the final stretch of the election season .
Several European diplomats said conversations with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helped their governments prepare to adapt to new foreign-policy priorities .
This is particularly important for European allies , some of which have troops deployed alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East and are trying to gain insight into how a Biden administration ’ s foreign policy could impact those deployments .
The foreign diplomats said they understood why the campaign wouldn ’ t want to invite such criticism but felt slighted at the campaign shutting out closely allied governments the same way it would the Russian or Chinese government .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” one said .
We wouldn ’ t have anything to say in private that we haven ’ t already said in public .
We understand the pressure that foreign ministries will put on their diplomats , but we are going to focus on American voters , Biden and his team , meanwhile , have found other ways to communicate with foreign governments , through public statements and its Twitter feed .
In September , Biden warned the U.K. on Twitter that any action undermining the Good Friday Agreement , which ended Northern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could jeopardize future negotiations on a U.S.-U.K. trade deal .
The prohibition on contacts has not been absolute , but most of the interaction with foreign delegates has involved surrogates who are not officially members of the Biden campaign but remain close to the former vice president .
They include Democratic foreign-policy experts attached to think tanks that have routine contacts with foreign officials .
Senior lawmakers who are being considered for top jobs in a Biden administration , including Sen. Chris Coons , who has been floated as a potential secretary of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meet with foreign ministers and other senior officials ( though meetings with lawmakers are not unusual for foreign officials visiting Washington and public readouts from the meetings make no mention of politics or the election cycles ) .
“ They are extremely cautious : People like Blinken are essentially not talking to or meeting with foreign diplomats , ” one Washington-based diplomat said .
“ It ’ s a policy there .
We ’ ve talked to other diplomats .
It ’ s the same thing.
” The diplomat , who spoke on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a category of people “ who are not officially on the campaign but whom you would expect to have influence on Biden .
Those people are in touch.
” Gérard Araud , France ’ s former ambassador to the United States , said he has reached out to Blinken numerous times during the election campaign , though not on behalf of foreign governments .
He said he asked if officials would be prepared to brief European journalists on Biden ’ s foreign-policy plans should he make it to the White House .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a polite no .
“ The challenge for diplomats in 2016 was that they didn ’ t know Trump ’ s inner circle well , ” he added .
The Republican foreign-policy mandarins who had worked under the George H.W .
and George W. Bush administrations were Never Trumpers banished from the corridors of power .
But that didn ’ t stop Trump ’ s team from reaching out across the Atlantic .
Araud recalled that he and his British counterpart at the time , Kim Darroch , were summoned to a meeting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ David Friedman , who would go on to become Trump ’ s ambassador to Israel ; and Jason Greenblatt , a former Trump lawyer who served as his Middle East envoy , after the election , in late November or early December 2016 .
“ They requested strongly not to vote for the resolution , ” he recalled .
“ We had some unpleasant phone calls from Jared Kushner afterwards because we didn ’ t cave in.
” “ They considered it was unfriendly that we had not taken into account the opinion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
The rift , Kushner and his colleagues suggested , might impact the new administration ’ s relations with European allies .
Araud noted that U.S. constraints on diplomatic outreach are not entirely new .
After Obama was elected president , Araud approached an old contact in the Obama campaign to discuss the new president ’ s priorities .
The American official , whom Araud declined to name , expressed concern that a meeting might land him in trouble if someone discovered it .
Instead , they agreed to meet discreetly but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington—in Silver Spring , Maryland .
Interactions with foreigners with the aim of undercutting an administration ’ s foreign policy have been fraught with potential legal ramifications for years .
The Logan Act , which was passed in 1799 , bars any U.S. citizen from directly or indirectly carrying out “ any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof , with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof , in relation to any disputes or controversies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defeat the measures of the United States , shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years , or both.
” No one has ever been prosecuted under the law .
But not for a lack of trying .
“ The Trump transition team members ’ actions in 2016 with respect to undermining the Obama administration ’ s policies ran afoul of the Logan Act , ” said Ryan Goodman , a law professor at New York University and founding co-editor of the website Just Security .
“ So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not to engage in similar actions , including sanctions policies and U.N. Security Council votes.
” “ The principle is that there is only one president at a time , ” he added .
“ A clear line for the Biden team is not to engage in negotiations with foreign governments in an effort to defeat existing Trump policies.
” But Goodman said cutting all contacts with foreign governments “ would be excessive .
From congratulatory calls in the event of winning the election to routine diplomatic engagements , a lot of goodwill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign counterparts , even though no business or negotiations may be done in these exchanges .
The Biden team could also listen to allies and other countries ’ views , needs , and concerns in these exchanges without worrying that such actions are inconsistent with the Logan Act.
” “ The watchword here is discipline and control , ” said Aaron David Miller , a veteran Middle East troubleshooter for successive Democratic and Republican administrations and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace .
“ There will be a lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t have a lot of officials sending all kinds of signals and messages to foreign governments.
” Update , Oct. 26 , 2020 : This article was updated to include a response from the Biden campaign .

There is a new parlor game that Washington’s diplomatic circles are playing with increasing frustration. It’s called: “Can you crack the Biden foreign-policy team’s cone of silence?”
There is a new parlor game that Washington’s diplomatic circles are playing with increasing frustration. It’s called: “Can you crack the Biden foreign-policy team’s cone of silence?”
With the U.S. presidential election a week away, foreign envoys are struggling to breach Biden’s inner sanctum of foreign-policy advisors. Even America’s closest allies are finding the door has been slammed shut when they reach out for conversations.
Team Biden has made it clear to foreign diplomats in Washington for the better part of a year that the Democratic nominee’s top foreign-policy advisors, including Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, are off-limits for briefings on the campaign’s foreign-policy plans, according to four Western diplomats.
The reticence reflects concern that Biden advisors could expose themselves to even hints of allegations that they are meddling in the foreign policy of a sitting president, as Donald Trump’s team infamously did four years ago.
During the last transition, Trump’s top national security advisor, Michael Flynn, faced charges of trying to undermine the Obama administration’s foreign policy by leading an effort to block the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution criticizing Israel. He was also paid to lobby for a firm that represented the Turkish government’s interests while he advised Trump’s campaign—an affiliation he did not disclose until after he was fired from the White House. Flynn’s secret December 2016 phone conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak became the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections by special counsel Robert Mueller and the subject of Flynn’s firing after a month on the job.
“There is a strict prohibition against talking to foreign officials,” said one official familiar with the Biden campaign’s policy. “There is a real obsession with just wanting to look different than Trump and not wanting to give the administration any opportunity to say, ‘Look, they did the same things that we did.’”
“If someone is working full time for the Biden team, then they say explicitly [they] cannot meet with foreign officials,” a European diplomat said.
The Biden campaign counters that much of the former vice president’s record is already out in the open, given his decades of work in Washington. “Joe Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was Vice President of the United States. He has written articles focused on foreign policy, answered candidate questionnaires and has spoken, publicly, at length in this campaign about his foreign policy priorities if he is elected President: restoring America’s role on the world stage, rebuilding our alliances, and rallying the world to confront our common challenges including climate change,” Biden campaign spokesperson Bill Russo said in a statement.
“For the next 8 days, our campaign will remain fully focused on speaking with the American people about what is at stake in this election,” Russo added.
The cautious approach marks a dramatic shift from Trump’s 2016 campaign team, which hosted meetings with foreign leaders, including then-British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at Trump Tower in New York City during the transition and which actively sought to undercut President Barack Obama’s foreign-policy agenda during his final months in office.
Democrats anticipate the Trump campaign would cite any contact between foreign government officials and the Biden campaign as evidence they are trying to undermine his foreign-policy agenda—even if those claims were false.
Foreign diplomats said it is routine for embassies to reach out to political parties in allied countries to learn about their policy priorities before elections—which is not the same as Flynn’s secretive lobbying for Turkey’s interest while on the campaign trail or conversations with the ambassador to one of the United States’ top global adversaries.
“There should be a distinction between preparing for when you come into office by having consultations [with foreign officials] than actually lobbying foreign officials to undermine the current president,” one foreign diplomat said.
The Biden campaign’s policy—which was previously reported by Politico—has proved frustrating for Washington’s foreign diplomatic corps, which has been struggling to coordinate on foreign-policy priorities with the campaign during the final stretch of the election season.
Several European diplomats said conversations with presidential campaigns in past election seasons have helped their governments prepare to adapt to new foreign-policy priorities. This is particularly important for European allies, some of which have troops deployed alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East and are trying to gain insight into how a Biden administration’s foreign policy could impact those deployments.
The foreign diplomats said they understood why the campaign wouldn’t want to invite such criticism but felt slighted at the campaign shutting out closely allied governments the same way it would the Russian or Chinese government. “Allies are not Sergey Kislyaks,” one said.
“ We wouldn’t have anything to say in private that we haven’t already said in public. We understand the pressure that foreign ministries will put on their diplomats, but we are going to focus on American voters, ” countered a campaign aide.
Biden and his team, meanwhile, have found other ways to communicate with foreign governments, through public statements and its Twitter feed. In September, Biden warned the U.K. on Twitter that any action undermining the Good Friday Agreement, which ended Northern Ireland’s decades-long political conflict, could jeopardize future negotiations on a U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
The prohibition on contacts has not been absolute, but most of the interaction with foreign delegates has involved surrogates who are not officially members of the Biden campaign but remain close to the former vice president. They include Democratic foreign-policy experts attached to think tanks that have routine contacts with foreign officials. Senior lawmakers who are being considered for top jobs in a Biden administration, including Sen. Chris Coons, who has been floated as a potential secretary of state under a Biden administration, routinely meet with foreign ministers and other senior officials (though meetings with lawmakers are not unusual for foreign officials visiting Washington and public readouts from the meetings make no mention of politics or the election cycles).
“They are extremely cautious: People like Blinken are essentially not talking to or meeting with foreign diplomats,” one Washington-based diplomat said. “It’s a policy there. We’ve talked to other diplomats. It’s the same thing.”
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there is a category of people “who are not officially on the campaign but whom you would expect to have influence on Biden. Those people are in touch.”
Gérard Araud, France’s former ambassador to the United States, said he has reached out to Blinken numerous times during the election campaign, though not on behalf of foreign governments. He said he asked if officials would be prepared to brief European journalists on Biden’s foreign-policy plans should he make it to the White House. The answer, he said, has been a polite no.
“The challenge for diplomats in 2016 was that they didn’t know Trump’s inner circle well,” he added. The Republican foreign-policy mandarins who had worked under the George H.W. and George W. Bush administrations were Never Trumpers banished from the corridors of power.
But that didn’t stop Trump’s team from reaching out across the Atlantic. Araud recalled that he and his British counterpart at the time, Kim Darroch, were summoned to a meeting at Trump Tower with Jared Kushner; David Friedman, who would go on to become Trump’s ambassador to Israel; and Jason Greenblatt, a former Trump lawyer who served as his Middle East envoy, after the election, in late November or early December 2016.
“They requested strongly not to vote for the resolution,” he recalled. “We had some unpleasant phone calls from Jared Kushner afterwards because we didn’t cave in.”
“They considered it was unfriendly that we had not taken into account the opinion of the incoming administration,” Araud said. The rift, Kushner and his colleagues suggested, might impact the new administration’s relations with European allies.
Araud noted that U.S. constraints on diplomatic outreach are not entirely new. After Obama was elected president, Araud approached an old contact in the Obama campaign to discuss the new president’s priorities. The American official, whom Araud declined to name, expressed concern that a meeting might land him in trouble if someone discovered it. Instead, they agreed to meet discreetly but only at a bar away from downtown Washington—in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Interactions with foreigners with the aim of undercutting an administration’s foreign policy have been fraught with potential legal ramifications for years. The Logan Act, which was passed in 1799, bars any U.S. citizen from directly or indirectly carrying out “any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
No one has ever been prosecuted under the law. But not for a lack of trying.
“The Trump transition team members’ actions in 2016 with respect to undermining the Obama administration’s policies ran afoul of the Logan Act,” said Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University and founding co-editor of the website Just Security. “So the Biden team would be well advised not to engage in similar actions, including sanctions policies and U.N. Security Council votes.”
“The principle is that there is only one president at a time,” he added. “A clear line for the Biden team is not to engage in negotiations with foreign governments in an effort to defeat existing Trump policies.”
But Goodman said cutting all contacts with foreign governments “would be excessive. From congratulatory calls in the event of winning the election to routine diplomatic engagements, a lot of goodwill can be established in direct contacts with foreign counterparts, even though no business or negotiations may be done in these exchanges. The Biden team could also listen to allies and other countries’ views, needs, and concerns in these exchanges without worrying that such actions are inconsistent with the Logan Act.”
“The watchword here is discipline and control,” said Aaron David Miller, a veteran Middle East troubleshooter for successive Democratic and Republican administrations and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “There will be a lot of people knocking on your doors. You can’t have a lot of officials sending all kinds of signals and messages to foreign governments.”
Update, Oct. 26, 2020: This article was updated to include a response from the Biden campaign.


foreignpolicy--2020-10-26--In Northern Kenya, the Climate Crisis Shifts Gender Roles

OLDONYIRO , Kenya—On a Tuesday morning at the Oldonyiro livestock market in November , Samaria Leyagu was doing what just a few years ago would have been unthinkable for a woman from her tribe : She was shopping for a goat .
Leyagu examined her options carefully , pausing at a skinny creature with black and tan fur .
“ 5,000 shillings , ” its owner said—just under $ 50 .
Leyagu picked up the goat , feeling its weight in her arms .
A goat this thin was not worth 5,000 shillings .
“ 2,500 , ” she countered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The market was not in Leyagu ’ s favor .
Overnight rains prevented many would-be sellers from making the journey to the market , flooding it with eager buyers .
She would return again the next week , when prices might be more reasonable .
Leyagu is a member of the Samburu tribe , semi-nomadic herders who settled in north-central Kenya several centuries ago .
Culturally , little has changed since then .
Livestock remains the Samburu people ’ s lifeblood .
Men spend their lives grazing their herds , while women do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , raise children , and take care of the homesteads .
Gender roles are so strict that men often forbid their wives from handling money or even saying their husbands ’ names out loud .
Now , for the first time in their history , it is slowly becoming acceptable for Samburu women to work for money—but not because men have changed their views on gender roles .
Instead , climate change has made it so there ’ s simply no other way for them to survive .
Driven by increasing drought , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pasture with their herds—leaving women not only to manage the household but also to earn enough money to live in their absence .
Climate change disproportionately affects the world ’ s poorest and most vulnerable , including those in the drylands of northern Kenya , where Leyagu lives .
The already brutal dry season has intensified in recent years , killing more vegetation , animals , and people than before .
Relentless droughts have diminished the Samburu ’ s livestock by up to 85 percent , by their estimates .
The dwindling resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and armed raiders routinely steal what remains .
With the traditional way of life now unsustainable , Samburu women have picked up jobs once reserved for men .
With the traditional way of life now unsustainable , Samburu women have picked up jobs once reserved for men , such as trading livestock .
“ Getting into this business , we have control of what to sell and what not to sell , ” Leyagu said .
“ Previously , it was only men who decided.
” While the droughts have been catastrophic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to bring in income .
Until recently , children tended to the herds instead of going to school .
Many mothers can now pay the school fees that they couldn ’ t afford on their husbands ’ earnings alone .
“ Children want to go to school , want food .
We want clothing for the children .
With money , we can do anything , ” said Thureya Marro , a Samburu woman who began running her own shop last year .
The trend of women engaging in paid labor isn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even to Kenya .
In parts of West Africa , women are taking on once forbidden roles because so many men have migrated in search of work .
Much of the rural population in the Sahel region relies on small-scale agriculture , but rising temperatures and changes in rainfall have made such livelihoods increasingly precarious .
Faced with few options , men have left in droves , migrating to Europe or other parts of Africa .
In several villages in the Kayes region of western Mali , for example , almost all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the country director for CARE in Mali .
With the men away , women have taken over farming duties—responsibilities they never would have assumed before .
Traditionally , “ there was the belief that only men can do the hard work , ” Sidibe said .
“ But in reality , the women are the ones doing that and producing for their families.
” Northern Ghana has followed a similar pattern .
According to a CARE study , women have taken on greater workloads amid a dearth of men , which sometimes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same time , they also reported greater confidence and decision-making power .
Men , for the first time , see women as capable of using the land and contributing to the household .
The shift toward women managing their own finances is leading to other changes , too .
Nitya Rao , a professor of gender and development at the University of East Anglia , found that among the Borana in Kenya—whose gender roles resemble those of the Samburu—some women have even questioned the value of marriage , since men can no longer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ They ’ re saying , ‘ What is marriage if you ’ re not getting anything out of it , except perhaps for getting pregnant ?
’ ” Rao said .
Newfound autonomy has emboldened some women to leave abusive situations .
Leyagu left her husband in 2007 because he was beating her ; now she is hesitant to marry again .
If she does , her husband will have to support her independence .
“ I can ’ t ask for permission to do the same thing I was doing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizations across Africa see these cultural shifts as a golden opportunity to foster women ’ s economic empowerment .
Nonprofits aimed at training women in business and practical skills have flourished in the last several years , furnishing them with grants , access to credit , and other resources .
Sam Owilly , the Kenya program director for the BOMA Project , which helps women run their own businesses , said husbands of women in the program in northern Kenya are largely grateful for the additional household income .
“ We ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the women no longer expect them to provide for the family , ” he said .
While instrumental in promoting gender equality , aid organizations targeted at women leave many men without similar opportunities .
As women embrace their autonomy , some men struggle with the fact that their own status as household providers has been destabilized .
Lacking the credit and financial resources for significant enterprise , they turn to working construction or driving motorcycle taxis .
In northern Kenya , many have turned to vices like drinking the herbal stimulant miraa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the younger men who do want to do something constructive are in quite a state of depression because there isn ’ t any support for them , ” Rao said .
Moreover , women ’ s empowerment can be a double-edged sword : While economically and socially empowered , women can also be crushed under the work of running both a household and business without assistance .
“ My question would be , do they really need to do all that to have their voice ?
” Sidibe of CARE said .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the risk of ridicule or violence for breaking with traditional gender roles .
But Owilly , with the BOMA Project , suggested that such instances are the exception rather than the rule , at least among his program ’ s participants .
He and his colleagues have seen men pitch in with their wives ’ businesses , helping them trade livestock or escorting them to the market—a new model for business .
Climate change is intensifying and leading to a shift in societal norms , in northern Kenya and beyond .
Many organizations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they will take on leadership roles such as mediating the resource-related clashes plaguing pastoralist communities due to drought and other ill effects .
If there is a sustainable path forward , responsibilities should be equitably shared .

OLDONYIRO, Kenya—On a Tuesday morning at the Oldonyiro livestock market in November, Samaria Leyagu was doing what just a few years ago would have been unthinkable for a woman from her tribe: She was shopping for a goat.
OLDONYIRO, Kenya—On a Tuesday morning at the Oldonyiro livestock market in November, Samaria Leyagu was doing what just a few years ago would have been unthinkable for a woman from her tribe: She was shopping for a goat.
Leyagu examined her options carefully, pausing at a skinny creature with black and tan fur. “5,000 shillings,” its owner said—just under $50. Leyagu picked up the goat, feeling its weight in her arms. A goat this thin was not worth 5,000 shillings. “2,500,” she countered. The owner shook his head. The market was not in Leyagu’s favor. Overnight rains prevented many would-be sellers from making the journey to the market, flooding it with eager buyers. She would return again the next week, when prices might be more reasonable.
Leyagu is a member of the Samburu tribe, semi-nomadic herders who settled in north-central Kenya several centuries ago. Culturally, little has changed since then. Livestock remains the Samburu people’s lifeblood. Men spend their lives grazing their herds, while women do the rest: fetch water and firewood, raise children, and take care of the homesteads. Gender roles are so strict that men often forbid their wives from handling money or even saying their husbands’ names out loud.
Now, for the first time in their history, it is slowly becoming acceptable for Samburu women to work for money—but not because men have changed their views on gender roles. Instead, climate change has made it so there’s simply no other way for them to survive. Driven by increasing drought, Samburu men leave for months searching for pasture with their herds—leaving women not only to manage the household but also to earn enough money to live in their absence.
Climate change disproportionately affects the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, including those in the drylands of northern Kenya, where Leyagu lives. The already brutal dry season has intensified in recent years, killing more vegetation, animals, and people than before. Relentless droughts have diminished the Samburu’s livestock by up to 85 percent, by their estimates. The dwindling resources have provoked conflicts with neighboring communities, and armed raiders routinely steal what remains.
With the traditional way of life now unsustainable, Samburu women have picked up jobs once reserved for men.
With the traditional way of life now unsustainable, Samburu women have picked up jobs once reserved for men, such as trading livestock. “Getting into this business, we have control of what to sell and what not to sell,” Leyagu said. “Previously, it was only men who decided.”
While the droughts have been catastrophic, many Samburu women say they prefer being able to bring in income. Until recently, children tended to the herds instead of going to school. Many mothers can now pay the school fees that they couldn’t afford on their husbands’ earnings alone. “Children want to go to school, want food. We want clothing for the children. With money, we can do anything,” said Thureya Marro, a Samburu woman who began running her own shop last year.
The trend of women engaging in paid labor isn’t limited to the Samburu or even to Kenya. In parts of West Africa, women are taking on once forbidden roles because so many men have migrated in search of work. Much of the rural population in the Sahel region relies on small-scale agriculture, but rising temperatures and changes in rainfall have made such livelihoods increasingly precarious. Faced with few options, men have left in droves, migrating to Europe or other parts of Africa.
In several villages in the Kayes region of western Mali, for example, almost all the men have left, said Balla Sidibe, the country director for CARE in Mali. With the men away, women have taken over farming duties—responsibilities they never would have assumed before. Traditionally, “there was the belief that only men can do the hard work,” Sidibe said. “But in reality, the women are the ones doing that and producing for their families.”
Northern Ghana has followed a similar pattern. According to a CARE study, women have taken on greater workloads amid a dearth of men, which sometimes leads to discrimination. But at the same time, they also reported greater confidence and decision-making power. Men, for the first time, see women as capable of using the land and contributing to the household.
The shift toward women managing their own finances is leading to other changes, too. Nitya Rao, a professor of gender and development at the University of East Anglia, found that among the Borana in Kenya—whose gender roles resemble those of the Samburu—some women have even questioned the value of marriage, since men can no longer financially support women as they once did. “They’re saying, ‘What is marriage if you’re not getting anything out of it, except perhaps for getting pregnant?’” Rao said.
Newfound autonomy has emboldened some women to leave abusive situations. Leyagu left her husband in 2007 because he was beating her; now she is hesitant to marry again. If she does, her husband will have to support her independence. “I can’t ask for permission to do the same thing I was doing before,” she said.
Development organizations across Africa see these cultural shifts as a golden opportunity to foster women’s economic empowerment. Nonprofits aimed at training women in business and practical skills have flourished in the last several years, furnishing them with grants, access to credit, and other resources. Sam Owilly, the Kenya program director for the BOMA Project, which helps women run their own businesses, said husbands of women in the program in northern Kenya are largely grateful for the additional household income. “We’ve seen men’s perception change when the women no longer expect them to provide for the family,” he said.
While instrumental in promoting gender equality, aid organizations targeted at women leave many men without similar opportunities. As women embrace their autonomy, some men struggle with the fact that their own status as household providers has been destabilized. Lacking the credit and financial resources for significant enterprise, they turn to working construction or driving motorcycle taxis. In northern Kenya, many have turned to vices like drinking the herbal stimulant miraa or even crime. “Some of the younger men who do want to do something constructive are in quite a state of depression because there isn’t any support for them,” Rao said.
Women’s empowerment can be a double-edged sword.
Moreover, women’s empowerment can be a double-edged sword: While economically and socially empowered, women can also be crushed under the work of running both a household and business without assistance. “My question would be, do they really need to do all that to have their voice?” Sidibe of CARE said. In northern Kenya, some women still face the risk of ridicule or violence for breaking with traditional gender roles.
But Owilly, with the BOMA Project, suggested that such instances are the exception rather than the rule, at least among his program’s participants. He and his colleagues have seen men pitch in with their wives’ businesses, helping them trade livestock or escorting them to the market—a new model for business.
Climate change is intensifying and leading to a shift in societal norms, in northern Kenya and beyond. Many organizations hope that as women assume more responsibility, they will take on leadership roles such as mediating the resource-related clashes plaguing pastoralist communities due to drought and other ill effects. If there is a sustainable path forward, responsibilities should be equitably shared.


foreignpolicy--2020-10-26--Senior U.S. Lawmaker Wants to Scale Back Pay-for-Post Ambassadorships

Senior U.S. Lawmaker Wants to Scale Back Pay-for-Post Ambassadorships Both Democratic and Republican presidents have for years doled out plum ambassador posts to deep-pocketed campaign donors and political allies with no prior diplomatic experience , a practice that has led to some embarrassing gaffes and controversies abroad .
Now , a senior U.S. lawmaker is taking aim at the practice , with a bill that would change how ambassadors are chosen and root out the most inexperienced and least qualified people before their nominations get to the Senate .
Introduced by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia , the bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experience required to be nominated for ambassador posts and require future administrations to be more transparent about the campaign contributions made by their nominees .
If passed , the bill would represent one of the most significant reforms to the ambassador nomination process in four decades , according to former diplomats and experts who track the issue .
Kaine ’ s bill is meant to curb the creeping takeover of U.S. ambassador posts worldwide by political appointees , a practice that has crowded out skilled career diplomats and exposed the department ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country has had some excellent ambassadors from outside the ranks of the career Foreign Service , over the past few decades , an increasing number of nominees have few credentials but have made large campaign contributions , ” Kaine said .
“ This bill will require presidents to justify their non-career nominees by citing their specific relevant skills and allow greater oversight and accountability of these appointees.
” The United States is the only country in the Western developed world that has made a routine practice of tapping political campaign donors for ambassador @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and academics who have studied the issue .
Critics say the practice is essentially a form of political corruption—granting senior governmental positions to people who wouldn ’ t be in the running for the job without substantial campaign donations .
But the debate over political versus career diplomats is not clear-cut .
Even the sharpest critics of the practice in the State Department can point to political appointees who made very effective ambassadors and leaders within the embassy ; and , conversely , there have been seasoned career diplomats who underperformed in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prefer political donor ambassadors , who might have a more direct line to the president ’ s inner circle than foreign service officers .
While Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren during her presidential primary campaign ruled out tapping donors as ambassadors , former Vice President Joe Biden ’ s campaign has not , according to Politico .
Former President Barack Obama faced scrutiny for some of his ambassador nominees , including George Tsunis , a hotel magnate and campaign megadonor who was tapped to be ambassador to Norway despite never having visited the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Norwegian government during his nomination hearing .
But President Donald Trump has taken the practice to new levels , according to lawmakers and former diplomats .
On average , past presidents have nominated career diplomats to about two-thirds of ambassador posts , leaving one-third for political appointees .
Trump has significantly increased the ratio of political appointees to about 43 percent versus 57 percent career diplomats , according to data from the American Foreign Service Association—although those numbers are constantly in flux as ambassadors come and go .
Trump has also tapped campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most seasoned diplomats or foreign-policy experts .
Kelly Knight Craft was appointed ambassador to Canada after she and her husband , Kentucky coal magnate Joseph Craft III , contributed $ 2 million to Trump ’ s 2016 campaign and inauguration .
She went on to become Trump ’ s envoy to the United Nations ( after a contentious nomination hearing ) , the first campaign megadonor ever to occupy such a senior role .
Trump ’ s ambassador appointees have included controversial campaign donors and members of his elite Mar-a-Lago Club—as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sondland , who found himself at the center of the president ’ s impeachment investigation for his actions as ambassador to the European Union .
Kaine ’ s bill , if passed , would require administrations to outline a nominee ’ s specific language skills and knowledge or experience in the country for which they ’ re tapped to be ambassador .
It would also require the State Department to publish certificates of competence and financial disclosures going back 10 years on campaign contributions for its appointees—clearly accessible on a single website .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ oversight for such ambassadors .
The State Department ’ s watchdog , the Office of the Inspector General , conducts inspections of a certain portion of U.S. embassies abroad each year on a rotating basis , assessing employees ’ morale , management issues , and the work of the ambassador .
Embassies are inspected an average of once every eight years , meaning many politically appointed ambassadors don ’ t face scrutiny from these reviews .
Kaine ’ s bill would require the Office of the Inspector General to make at least 25 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ embassies run by politically appointed ambassadors .
Recent studies show that the political appointees tapped for ambassador posts over time have fewer relevant credentials but a track record of larger campaign donations .
The average campaign contribution for a political donor-turned-ambassador under Trump is 1,400 percent higher than under President Ronald Reagan , according to one study—a significant leap even factoring in inflation and the overall price tag of presidential campaigns .
Congressional aides cite other statistics to back this up : The percentage of political appointee ambassadors who lived or worked in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serve went from 26 percent under Reagan to 5 percent under Trump .
Veteran diplomats say that the political donors-turned-ambassadors operate according to a different set of rules ; they can shrug off allegations of mismanagement or misuse of State Department resources , and they can court controversies without repercussions that would befall career diplomats .
Nearly every modern president has faced some scandal involving a political donor who was tapped to be an ambassador , with Trump more than most—including his ambassadors in South Africa , Iceland , the Netherlands , Germany @ @ @ @ @ @

Both Democratic and Republican presidents have for years doled out plum ambassador posts to deep-pocketed campaign donors and political allies with no prior diplomatic experience, a practice that has led to some embarrassing gaffes and controversies abroad.
Both Democratic and Republican presidents have for years doled out plum ambassador posts to deep-pocketed campaign donors and political allies with no prior diplomatic experience, a practice that has led to some embarrassing gaffes and controversies abroad.
Now, a senior U.S. lawmaker is taking aim at the practice, with a bill that would change how ambassadors are chosen and root out the most inexperienced and least qualified people before their nominations get to the Senate.
Introduced by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the bill would elevate the level of credentials and experience required to be nominated for ambassador posts and require future administrations to be more transparent about the campaign contributions made by their nominees.
If passed, the bill would represent one of the most significant reforms to the ambassador nomination process in four decades, according to former diplomats and experts who track the issue.
Kaine’s bill is meant to curb the creeping takeover of U.S. ambassador posts worldwide by political appointees, a practice that has crowded out skilled career diplomats and exposed the department’s culture to politicization.
“While our country has had some excellent ambassadors from outside the ranks of the career Foreign Service, over the past few decades, an increasing number of nominees have few credentials but have made large campaign contributions,” Kaine said. “This bill will require presidents to justify their non-career nominees by citing their specific relevant skills and allow greater oversight and accountability of these appointees.”
The United States is the only country in the Western developed world that has made a routine practice of tapping political campaign donors for ambassador posts, according to former U.S. diplomats and academics who have studied the issue. Critics say the practice is essentially a form of political corruption—granting senior governmental positions to people who wouldn’t be in the running for the job without substantial campaign donations.
But the debate over political versus career diplomats is not clear-cut. Even the sharpest critics of the practice in the State Department can point to political appointees who made very effective ambassadors and leaders within the embassy; and, conversely, there have been seasoned career diplomats who underperformed in the job. Additionally, some foreign governments prefer political donor ambassadors, who might have a more direct line to the president’s inner circle than foreign service officers.
While Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren during her presidential primary campaign ruled out tapping donors as ambassadors, former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has not, according to Politico.
Former President Barack Obama faced scrutiny for some of his ambassador nominees, including George Tsunis, a hotel magnate and campaign megadonor who was tapped to be ambassador to Norway despite never having visited the country. He fumbled basic questions about the Norwegian government during his nomination hearing.
But President Donald Trump has taken the practice to new levels, according to lawmakers and former diplomats. On average, past presidents have nominated career diplomats to about two-thirds of ambassador posts, leaving one-third for political appointees. Trump has significantly increased the ratio of political appointees to about 43 percent versus 57 percent career diplomats, according to data from the American Foreign Service Association—although those numbers are constantly in flux as ambassadors come and go.
Trump has also tapped campaign donors to ambassador posts typically reserved for the most seasoned diplomats or foreign-policy experts. Kelly Knight Craft was appointed ambassador to Canada after she and her husband, Kentucky coal magnate Joseph Craft III, contributed $2 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign and inauguration. She went on to become Trump’s envoy to the United Nations (after a contentious nomination hearing), the first campaign megadonor ever to occupy such a senior role.
Trump’s ambassador appointees have included controversial campaign donors and members of his elite Mar-a-Lago Club—as well as an Oregon hotel magnate, Gordon Sondland, who found himself at the center of the president’s impeachment investigation for his actions as ambassador to the European Union.
Kaine’s bill, if passed, would require administrations to outline a nominee’s specific language skills and knowledge or experience in the country for which they’re tapped to be ambassador. It would also require the State Department to publish certificates of competence and financial disclosures going back 10 years on campaign contributions for its appointees—clearly accessible on a single website.
It would also mandate baseline levels of oversight for such ambassadors. The State Department’s watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, conducts inspections of a certain portion of U.S. embassies abroad each year on a rotating basis, assessing employees’ morale, management issues, and the work of the ambassador. Embassies are inspected an average of once every eight years, meaning many politically appointed ambassadors don’t face scrutiny from these reviews. Kaine’s bill would require the Office of the Inspector General to make at least 25 percent of inspections each fiscal year at embassies run by politically appointed ambassadors.
Recent studies show that the political appointees tapped for ambassador posts over time have fewer relevant credentials but a track record of larger campaign donations. The average campaign contribution for a political donor-turned-ambassador under Trump is 1,400 percent higher than under President Ronald Reagan, according to one study—a significant leap even factoring in inflation and the overall price tag of presidential campaigns. Congressional aides cite other statistics to back this up: The percentage of political appointee ambassadors who lived or worked in the country where they are nominated to serve went from 26 percent under Reagan to 5 percent under Trump.
Veteran diplomats say that the political donors-turned-ambassadors operate according to a different set of rules; they can shrug off allegations of mismanagement or misuse of State Department resources, and they can court controversies without repercussions that would befall career diplomats.
Nearly every modern president has faced some scandal involving a political donor who was tapped to be an ambassador, with Trump more than most—including his ambassadors in South Africa, Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom.