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May 31, 2005
Time to fuck off - but a contrast on Euro versus American Diplos
And take the woman out to dinner. Somewhere moderately scummy, but nevertheless intriguing. Then pack her off on a train and out of my hair for the rest of the week.
In the meantime, I am positively aglow with the news coming out of Europe. The French and the Bruxelles crowd in disarray, blundering about like the benighted fools they are.
However, let me take this opportunity, however, to praise the Eurocrats.
First, their diplomatic service in terms of staffing is far more interesting and competent than the American staffing. You might protest that the Americans get more done, and I say, yes. That is true, but that is merely by sheer force of effort - and the fact that EU is like a three headed horse. (Not three horses, sadly, but a three-headed horse) Sure, up top policy making is a bungled jumbled mess, but their on the ground sorts have real panache.
In contrast, your average American diplo type that I meet is (i) boring, (ii) boring, (iii) boring, (iv) rather more boring, (v) painfully ill-informed and almost sure to know next to nothing about his country of posting, (vi) boring, (vii) unable to buy me alcohol because of some bizarre puritanical expense account system, (viii) boring, (ix) gullible in a tedious sort of way due to points v and vii, (x) likely to be a mormon (redundant to points i-iv, vi, vii, viii and ix), (xi) lives in near total lockdown because the US is such a weirdly risk averse country when it comes to seeing its civil servants get whacked, (xii) well-nigh useless for information, (xiii) tediously middle-class functionary sort.
This does not stop me from feeding off of them, but frankly, most American diplos might as well be in fucking Idaho for all the work they really get done.
Not their fault really. US Gov has a bizarre approach to staffing risk (which despite serial failures in terms of spying and the like continues) where the bland and riskless are sucked in (Mormons, insufferable boring people), and anyone with the slightest panache is passed over or squeezed out.
Or so it seems. Now, ex the Diplo service and the Agency, very good we might say. But your Agency and Diplo types should be... well able to at least blend into the Expat world, if nothing else.
Add to this an entirely bizarre and benighted system of staffing which as far as I can make out requires -yes requires- that Diplo Officers not spend consecutive assignements in a region (let alone a country) and has such short assignments (2-3 years) as to positively ensure they learn nothing.
One can understand to be sure the fear of going local, but this clearly goes to far.
I contrast this with the Euro Diplos I know. Largely scoundrals - rather likable for that - potentially quite corrupt - again something that warms my heart a bit, largely through the Cuban products thusly consumed - and usually in place for a good while such that they have proper networks.
Now, very seriously, in a region where networks are everything, this is a non-trivial advantage.
True enough, I have seen enough signs of EU money being pissed away in somewhat less than transparent fashions, but at least some portion was spent on me, and surely one can have something of a combination of a bit of scoundraliness (to create a word) with otherwise straight dealing.
(I note that FT has this nasty and positively delicious op ed: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/62fafcc0-d138-11d9-9c1d-00000e2511c8.html)
Posted by The Lounsbury at May 31, 2005 06:56 PM
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Jan-July 2005
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