American Diplomat

Our disastrous departure from Afghanistan. Hugo Llorens shares his knowledge of the Taliban's subgroups (hint: none abide by the Geneva Convention), his perspective on US domestic politics and its impact on the human tragedy in Afghanistan, and his view on what we might have done to exit the country with a conditions-based agreement focused on preserving human lives and dignity, instead of a wholesale surrender and the carnage that has ensued.

Wouldn't we all like to know. She's alive, at least. Bad luck becomes good luck as she is turned away on her way to the airport just before the bombs go off.

People's lives are at stake in the most urgent way. Policy is a macro-level thing, and utterly necessary. But what about the people themselves? What about Toobah? What should Biden have done? People are hanging from the fuselage. Afghanistan, August 2021.

Or a traitor, anyway. In an eerily quiet region during the Vietnam war, from a banana grove in the middle of the night, Lionel Rosenblatt discovers that a US military official is guilty of supplying the enemy with life-saving medicine from the United States. Lionel is saved from a murderous reprisal through the assistance of his friends, the Vietnamese mountain people.

The Arab Spring – Tunisia, Egypt – we know about these places. But Bahrain is almost never in the news. What is its geopolitical significance, and strategic importance to the US? And why was Ambassador Tom Krajeski in a tight spot when the Arab Spring came to Bahrain? Can we walk and chew gum at the same time?

Amb. Ryan Crocker, Middle East expert, explains the value of Foreign Service Nationals and brings it all home with a story of the day that local staff saved his life. Toobah, a former employee of USAID, then tells us of her life, stuck at home in Kabul at all times because if she goes outside she will be killed in a most gruesome manner. And why? She worked. Not only that: She helped other women get jobs. Point being? They saved our lives. We must act fast to save theirs.

HT, an Afghan interpreter who worked alongside US forces and has been denied a visa to come to the United States explains how he served, who in his family has been killed as a consequence of his service, and how difficult it is for him to find safety as the US departs his country. Tony Wayne opens the episode, speaking from the perspective of a US diplomat.

Consular officer Kate Canavan on the many things that can go wrong in Tijuana. Two air traffic controllers, fired for going on strike, go into (very) private industry. Pete's words: "Breaking Bad, in the skies."

Communism drives immigration decisions, 1956. Hank Cohen is in love. It's his first tour, and he's in Paris. The Soviets invade Hungary and Hank helps thousands of refugees flee Communist aggression and make new lives in the US. But what about heartthrob megastar Yves Montand, who is an avowed Communist? How can Hank get him a visa? And about that girl…

It is the 1950s. Senator Joseph McCarthy and his henchman Roy Cohn target and humiliate our diplomats for accurately reporting an eventual Mao victory in China. Jack Service and his family are at the center of the storm. How are things different today?

A social worker by profession, Bonnie Miller traveled the world with her spouse Ambassador Tom Miller and created the first-ever course in Psychosocial Consequences of War in response to trauma she witnessed in Sarajevo. But the life changing moment came when she met victims of sexual trafficking. And that's when Bonnie Miller really got started.

Trick Question: What happened in Yalta in 1945? Probably more than you think! And why did those proceedings hold up the confirmation of Ambassador Avis Bohlen's father Charles Bohlen as Ambassador to the Soviet Union? Plus: Are things better in American politics today than during the McCarthy era, or worse?For the full story, see Avis's article in the May 2021 Foreign Service Journal, or this link: https://afsa.org/victory-against-mccarthy-bohlen-confirmation.

Pete sends Phil Chicola to guerrilla country to investigate the deaths of American linguist missionaries, and both Pete and Phil are accused of negotiating with the FARC. All of this concurrent with the Clinton impeachment, and as Pete explains, it got ugly. Especially with Baby Huey.

Phil Shull is back, this time connecting our earlier discussion of Chinese culture to practical business and policy challenges faced by Westerners doing business in that country.

Why does the West find China so confounding in matters of business and diplomacy? Phil Shull, retired Foreign Agricultural Service officer, explains: China's culture and history may be best understood by its written character for "population", which is comprised of symbols for "person" and "mouth". Chinese don't ask, "How's it going?" but instead, "Have you eaten today?" For more, read Phil's article, Dealing with the Dragon, in the Foreign Service Journal, at this link: https://www.afsa.org/dealing-dragon

What do 840 people, 96 hours, a hamster, a newborn, a bag of Doritos and a husband expecting to fly first class all add up to? The zombie apocalypse, or, the evacuation of Americans from Wuhan, China, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consular officer Alan Eaton makes it all sound like fun. For more, here's an article that Alan wrote for the Foreign Service Journal: https://afsa.org/sites/default/files/flipping_book/070820/50/

Dennis Jett, recidivist American Diplomat guest, regales and opines on hostage-taking in Peru, the Cuban missile crisis, the JFK assassination, and (drum roll, please) Joe Biden's first 100 days in foreign policy. Quiz: State dinners or the Iran nuclear deal - which one is a foreign affairs food fight?

In our third of three episodes on the assassination of JFK, we learn what the eminently reasonable Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former CIA operations officer, has learned by focusing purely on the facts. But questions remain. Among them: Can we trust our own government? Can we handle the truth?

Why did her diplomat father take his own life? Her mother kept her in the dark. Why? To protect her? From what? Zelda just wants some answers.

Charles Thomas had intel, valuable intel, on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. And to thank him for his efforts to share this intel, he was "selected out" of the Foreign Service, or, fired. This led to his suicide not long after. We chat with award winning author Phil Shenon who wrote the book on this topic, literally: A Cruel and Shocking Act. Shenon unpacks what is known and what is not known about the assassination and the life and death of Charles Thomas.

Ambassador Jim Gadsen and mid-career officer Paloma Gonzalez share their stories of diversity and inclusion, one a Black man whose career was launched in part by the Civil Rights Movement, the other a Latina whose parents came to the US to be where the Civil Rights Movement was changing lives. In the end, though, is diversity of skin color among officers only as important as the diversity in thinking and experience that it creates?

It's 5:30am, and Kala Bokelman of the Diplomatic Security Service is one of many staking out a professional photographer named Solano's house on a skinny on a dead-end street in Costa Rica. Together with Costa Rican security, the DSS helps bust a child pornography ring resulting in 757 years in prison (that's right, 757) for the perpetrators.

Party at Carla's house! Kala Bokelman, diplomatic security special agent, tells of a raid on a house straddling the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. The goal? To stop coyotes smuggling people from Cuba to the US via Ecuador and every state in between. The problem? Her jurisdiction ends in Carla's back yard.

As a diplomat of color, how did the murder of George Floyd inspire Christian Loubeau, Security Council negotiator for the United States mission to the United Nations, to create change at USUN? And, how exactly do you conduct multilateral negotiation on behalf of the US?

Andrew Shinn onboards as a new Foreign Service Officer during the pandemic. But what is he onboarding to? There's no place to go, and even State doesn't really know what to do with these newbies. Do you swear in wearing your underwear?

We all know the importance of Nelson Mandela, but great as he was, he did not work alone. Each of these figures brought their motives and personalities to shape South Africa's transition from apartheid to the present. John Campbell, political counselor in Johannesburg during the collapse of apartheid, shares the human perspective on these powerful world events. Everyone in the country wanted a change to democracy, from right-wing Afrikaners to Marxist liberationists. Why?

It all began with a call from the police. Andrew Byrley, a young officer and former robotics expert, shares tales of a harrowing month assisting Americans in crisis in Belize. What can, what cannot, and what must the American consulate do for you in a foreign country?

The Arab Spring - Tunisia, Egypt - we know about these places. But Bahrain is almost never in the news. What is its geopolitical significance, and strategic importance to the US? And why was Ambassador Tom Krajeski in a tight spot when the Arab Spring came to Bahrain? Can we walk and chew gum at the same time?

"But we're Americans. We don't lose wars." False! Ambassador and former National Security Advisor Tony Lake takes a hard look at American leadership in the world from Kennedy until the present time, when like so many countries, our democracy needs shoring up as well. For more about Tony Lake, see this article in the Foreign Service Journal.

Like Chicago mobsters, hard line parties grab to divvy up the riches after the genocide in Bosnia has stopped. Ambassador Tom Miller, together with the British ambassador, organizes "secret dinners" that lead to a peaceable coalition of factions that brings stability and to great surprise wins the election 2000. But after the noxious blue smoke clears, then what?

Or a traitor, anyway. In an eerily quiet region during the Vietnam war, from a banana grove in the middle of the night, Lionel Rosenblatt discovers that a US military official is guilty of supplying the enemy with life-saving medicine from the United States. Lionel is saved from a murderous reprisal through the assistance of his friends, the Vietnamese mountain people.

Again in honor both of Black History Month and Linda Thomas-Greenfield's recent appointment as US ambassador to the United Nations, we repost our second chat with Linda from last summer: 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.

Mohammed Bouazizi, an underemployed fruit seller, sets himself on fire, launching what we later began calling the Arab Spring. Ambassador Gordon Gray walks us through life on the ground in Tunisia, when things in the Arab world began to change. Plus, read Gray's article in the Foreign Service journal for greater insight, at this link: https://www.afsa.org/sites/default/files/flipping_book/010221/41/

In honor of upcoming Black History Month, and in honor of the new administration, we repost our first episode with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden's new Ambassador to the UN. Go, Linda! Here's the episode: "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.

Dan Kurtzer, Ambassador to both Egypt and Israel, parses this complex part of the world from his experience on the ground. Why was Anwar Sadat killed? What social forces produced the revolution of February 2011? And how is the average Egyptian living now? Better or worse than before?

The worst of the worst: Victor Bout, Russian arms dealer, is not the only one. A a host of other nogoodnicks invest their nefarious proceeds in American cities such as Louisville, Dallas, Cleveland, unbeknownst to city officials. These criminals receive real estate tax breaks but never pay tax, drive up market prices, destroy jobs, and are never held accountable for any of their crimes because American laws have not, up to now, required them to identify themselves. But things are changing.

What exactly is dirty money, and how is it laundered? How much of it flows through the world, and the United States in particular? And how does it impact regular Americans going about our daily lives? Kathleen Doherty, aka "the Dirty Money Tracker", shares her expertise.

For some even better discussion with Gina, here's our second of two with her: Religious police stop Gina and terrorists attack the consulate general in Jeddah. See you next week with new original content. Happy New Year!

Bet you haven't heard this one! We recorded this story when we began the show a few years ago and no one knew about us yet. Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley regales, in her first of two episodes. Do you know where to find a hooker in Oman? And what happens when your boss nixes your husband's job choice in Saudi Arabia, but you really would like to stay married?

Pete visits the Huarani Indians, botches up a boar hunt, drinks the mystery drink chicha, and receives upon his departure a marriage proposal, ambiguously addressed either to himself one of the other fine young gringos. Follows first episode, titled "Cowboys and Indian at the Embassy." New photos of this wild ride are now available at www.amdipstories.org. Enjoy!

In this adventure tale in two parts, Pete visits the Huarani tribe in the Amazon jungle while serving as US Ambassador to Ecuador. Today, in light of Covid, Pete feels remorse. We promise that no one contracted any Western illness from Pete, but was he reckless? You be the judge. And in the meantime, meet Moi, tribal ambassador from the rainforest, here in part 1.

You've heard a zillion stories of adventures in Foreign Service. How did all of these regular people become such erudite heroes of public service? They took the Foreign Service Test. And so, for your entertainment, Laura did, too. Here's a hiatus repost of one of our most fun episodes ever. Did she pass? Did she live? Were the questions fair? Were the examiners fair? Pete and Dave Rabadan are tough. Was Laura tough enough?

Join us for some of Pete's jokes (Laura laughed, we promise) and our annual show featuring stories of Thanksgiving overseas. Enjoy! Stay safe! ~Pete & Laura

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 [email protected], 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.