US envoy in Russia tells he's being spied on, stalked by TV channel

[ABN MP]

US ambassadors, contrary to nearly worldwide practice, are political appointees, not career diplomats.
Thats why many of them are not exactly diplomatic

Rupert just dropped off the radar and sacrificed some pawns. He'll be back in no time.

Not true. Only about 30% of Ambassadors are Political Appointees. This guy is only the second one in Russia in 30 years. Most of your political appointees are in nice cushy spots. It is a reward for helping the President get elected most of the time. Career Diplomats have been lobbying to do away with Political Appointees since it takes away job opportunities from them.

[ABN MP]

I agree with that, he went in pretty naive or pretty contra.

It does make me wonder how diplomats/ambassadors are chosen.

Ideally, they would be prepped by the state department to make the right choices. Instead, McFaul comes off as arrogant and subversive.

Language is also an issue, as Russian is quite complicated and as a foreigner speaking (or attempting to speak it) it is rather easy for Russians to run circles around you linguistically if they want to.

So the state department can choose between teaching someone Russian and ending up with a McFaul level of Russian* (just good enough to make small talk but not engage in a real debate) or use somebody with a Russian background, who will either be a Russia-hating emigrant or a Russian spy.

* He has a MA in Slavic languages from Stanford, so actually his Russian should be better than it appears to be, but he probably is out of practice. He got his degree 26 years ago...

The State Department didn't choose him. President Obama hooked up a donor for the spot. When someone is slated to become an Ambassador they usually already know the language. If they don't they are sent to the Foreign Service Insititute for Langauage courses. Career Diplomats know a couple of languages. Many political appointees don't know any.

[cordel]

Not true. Only about 30% of Ambassadors are Political Appointees.

Who cares about their practice in general? What's important is that the current ambassador is a political appointee who started his stay with a major fuckup. For an ambassador who is supposed to be impartial, meddling in local politics is the shortest route to becoming an unwelcome guest.

Of course, NTV is an example of bad journalism. I don't even want to think who is right and who is wrong there, both the sides are utterly disgustng.

[ABN MP]

Who cares about their practice in general? What's important is that the current ambassador is a political appointee who started his stay with a major fuckup. For an ambassador who is supposed to be impartial, meddling in local politics is the shortest route to becoming an unwelcome guest.

Of course, NTV is an example of bad journalism. I don't even want to think who is right and who is wrong there, both the sides are utterly disgustng.

I was replying to his misspoken statement.

If you think that he would be impartial you are mistaken. The reason most political appointees are in cushy jobs is because they would screw things up in major countries. His getting this assignment was a mistake. My old boss had been the Ambassador to Russia and did a good job there. A country like Russia deserves a professional who know the job and knows the people. I see more problems out of this guy and I hope the same thing happens to him as two fo the other appointees in theis administration. I hope he is recalled and replaced by someone a litle more professional.