Posted on 11/29/2010 12:12:25 PM PST by maggief
Andrew is a her?
>>you don’t say something like this:
Why not, it is true. Geography has not been a high school subject for decades.
It’s an accurate statement.
Are we so sensitive now that a minor fact causes a whiny response like the Prince was “rude”?
I don’t see rudeness, I see a young man tired of diplo double speak, euphemisms and guarded language speaking frankly and honestly.
There may be hope for the House of Windsor yet.
Ambassador Tatiana C. Gfoeller is a veteran U.S. Diplomat, having joined the Department of State in 1984. Her previous foreign postings have included: Poland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Russia, and Turkmenistan. She has served as a Deputy Principal Officer in Russia and Deputy Chief of Mission in Turkmenistan. She most recently served as Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ms. Gfoeller was awarded the Rusk Fellowship in 2000, and taught Masters degree classes in political science at Georgetown University and wrote a book on U.S. foreign policy interests in the Caspian Basin. She speaks Russian, French, Polish, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic.
She is a member of numerous foreign affairs organizations, including the Council of Foreign Relations. Ms. Gfoeller has a Bachelors of Science and a Masters of Science from Georgetown University, in addition to a Certificate of International Law Studies from the University of Florence.
Read the cable.
You must have to REALLY be on someone’s sh!t list to be named ambassador to Kyrgystan.
Yep. He's got more balls than our President. I respect balls.
I thought you were referring to our Ambassador:
I prefer to think of her as an errand girl sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.
Foggy Bottom needs an enema. She sounds like a pretty good place to put the tube.
That won’t be her last ambassadorship. Usually, you get one of these posts and then move on to a bigger one if you are a career foreign service officer. And this is actually a pretty important medium sized post given our need for a logistics base to support the war in Afghanistan.
LOL. OK, Mr. Pirate. You continue to believe that. I think you have to get out of your mother’s basement and learn what the real world is all about.
Of what importance is it to the world the mutterings of the Duke of York? Although, I must say, his blunt words cut through the drone of the usual diplomatic, content-free speech.
I did. Thanks for the link you provided.
And I do not see why the esteemed ambassador got her knickers in a twist.
It this is the tolerance level of our diplos.....well, that’s fairly thin skinned.
Do you have anything of substance to say about his comments or will it all be just cheap, second rate barbs because he's a member of the royal family?
I think you have to get out of your mother’s basement and learn what the real world is all about.
Really. It sounds to me like Prince Andrew has a pretty firm grasp of what's going on in that part of the world to me. Do you have any first hand knowledge that he's incorrect?
Imagine the temerity, a Royal actually defending his Nations business interests. No wonder your friend was shocked. That kind of thing simply isn't done at the US State Department.
Come to think of it they don't seem to spend much time defending ANY US interests at all.
Enema? Did I say they needed an enema? I was wrong. They need a firehose up the collective rectum. Even then it'd take a decade at full force to flush all the lefty, anti-American fecal matter out of that Department.
Well, if you read the cable, you see that she didn't get her "knickers in a twist," but she was reporting what she observed at the meeting being the only non-Brit or Canadian. There were a number of comments in the cable that Prince Andrew made that were bordering on being both rude and uninformed. Someone like Tatiana with her estensive expertise in the region as well as her Soviet background picked them up where someone else might not have.
The Great Game comment was particularly grating to her. The Great Game is a term used for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia.
"Addressing the Ambassador directly, Prince Andrew then turned to regional politics. He stated baldly that "the United Kingdom, Western Europe (and by extension you Americans too") were now back in the thick of playing the Great Game. More animated than ever, he stated cockily: "And this time we aim to win!" Without contradicting him, the Ambassador gently reminded him that the United States does not see its presence in the region as a continuation of the Great Game. We support Kyrgyzstan's independence and sovereignty but also welcome good relations between it and all of its neighbors, including Russia."
The Prince was a little too cavalier with his comments in a public place. "In an astonishing display of candor in a public hotel where the brunch was taking place.".."Prince Andrew took up the topic with gusto, saying that he keeps hearing Maxim's name "over and over again" whenever he discusses doing business in this country." At this point the Duke of York laughed uproariously, saying that: "All of this sounds exactly like France."
Given the venue, I find the Prince's comments unwise and counterproductive to not only the UK's interests in the country, but also ours. Everything he said will go back to the government, which is corrupt and vindictive. We were fortunate to keep Manas open. It is the last airbase we have left in the region. Over 50,000 troops transited there in March this year.
America is not in the Kyrgyz Republic as part of the "Great Game" or the revival of the Great Game. Sending that kind of message to the Kyrgyz government, which has broken away from the Soviets, is not helpful. Prince Andrew made a number of diplomatic gaffes that will have future repercussions.
But notice that our Ambassador said that, "Prince Andrew reached out to the Ambassador with cordiality and respect, evidently valuing her insights."
Prince Andrew is speaking at a local hotel. His comments are more than likely being recorded by the host government. You don't discuss how corrupt the President's son is or refer to colonial hegemony in the region between the Soviet Union and British Empire in a country that broke away from the Soviets and doesn't want to be anyone's pawn. Just plain dumb and yes, rude.
The reality is that he is hurting British business interests because it is in a public setting, not a diplomatic setting. You don't criticize the government for corruption including personalizing it by citing the President's son and then think that this will help UK business interests in the country. The crowd obviously enjoyed it, but they are not the only audience. Just plain dumb.
You obviously do not like the comparisons to the Great Game, likewise with the Ambassador.
But the Prince is engaging in some strategic thinking that seems sorely lacking in our honored diplo.
In fact, the Prince is more grounded in reality, perceiving that the competition in Central Asia is reminiscent of the Great Game as it pertains to corporations competing for contracts from those nations.
It seemes to me that it is our ambassador who does not acknowledge reality, cocooned in her self imposed beliefs, parroting our official lines, wishing reality is what she says it is, rather than what it actually is.
The Prince is grounded, honest and upfront.
Rude and uninformed, that’s your opinion.
And the American Ambassador comes off as some petulant harpie, miffed that she was upstaged by the young Prince.
Just by way of clarification, since I've seen the description "young" used of Prince Andrew several times in this thread: he is 50 years old. Young relative to someone's grandparents, maybe.
Kyrgyzstan would probably be more disturbed by that denial than the Prince's comments. What is the USA really planning?
“She most recently served as Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”
Odd posting for a woman (Saudi Arabia would be
an unlikely place for a woman to gain entrance into male
discussions or become involved serious discussions.)
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