Bush Picks U.S. Ambassador for Moldova

The Associated Press ^ | FEBRUARY 13, 2003 | The Associated Press

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush announced Thursday he has chosen Heather Hodges to be the next U.S. ambassador to Moldova.

Hodges, a native of Ohio, now is the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain. Previously, she has served in the same post in Lima, Peru, and in Managua, Nicaragua, and in other State Department jobs in Guatemala and Venezuela.

Hodges' nomination would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

[Willie Green]

I forget where Moldova is.
Do they speak Spanish there?

[BMCDA]

East of Romania. It was a former Soviet republic so many still speak Russian although the official language is Romanian.

[xJones]

I hates it when you make me look things up.

Moldava.

[NonValueAdded]

It's in eastern Europe, east of Romania and notrh of the Ukraine. Look here .

OK, so she has lots of experience, seems to be a career state department employee, what say the RATs?

[NonValueAdded]

notrh = north for those of you in Rio Linda

[Willie Green]

Thank-you. I should have been able to remember that,
but I'm still somewhat numb from another thread:
US seeks 'someone like Jimmy Carter' to oversee administration after overthrow of Saddam
I was just taking a guess at Spanish because of the ambassador nominee's previous assignments.

[colorado tanker]

OK, so she has lots of experience, seems to be a career state department employee, what say the RATs?

Just announce whoever votes against the nomination will have to go in her place. She'll sail through.

[Solon]

Do they speak Spanish there?

Yes.

Why else would they appoint a deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain with service in Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala & Venezuela to Moldova?

[JackTom]

Honestly, I think not a single Democrat cares who is ambassador to Moldova.

[Willie Green]

Why else would they appoint a deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain with service in Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala & Venezuela to Moldova?

I gotta admit, it looks like a dismal assignment.
But maybe there are some issues there similar to her native state of Ohio.

[BMCDA]

US seeks 'someone like Jimmy Carter' to oversee administration after overthrow of Saddam

OK you are excused ;)

[xJones]

She really must have hacked off somebody big in the State Dept. Something about being sent to Fum Buck, Egypt comes to mind.

[Verginius Rufus]

Moldova was part of Romania until Stalin took it in WWII. Most of the population speaks Moldovan, which is a dialect of Romanian. It was written with the Cyrillic alphabet under Soviet rule; the plan was to change over to use of the Latin alphabet, but I don't know if that has been done. If Hodges knows Spanish she should be able to learn Moldovan since it is a Romance language (but with a lot of words borrowed from other languages).

Right after independence they were having trouble between the Moldovan-speaking majority and the Ukrainian-speaking minority, but I don't know if that is still a problem. It is one of the most miserably poor of the former Soviet republics. Romania has problems enough but I think Moldova is much worse off.

[Willie Green]

She really must have hacked off somebody big in the State Dept. Something about being sent to Fum Buck, Egypt comes to mind.

Something tells me you're right, x.

I did a Google search and came up with a bio on her written in Spanish. Here's an excerpt that was translated through Babelfish:

" Heather Hodges, natural from Cleveland, Ohio, obtained the title of Bachelor of Arts (degree) in Spanish philology by the College of St. Catherine , of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Máster by the University of New York. During the Seventies it lived and it worked in Madrid, Spain."

Funky English translation aside, this woman was heavy-duty into Spanish, even graduating from college back in '70 with some kind of Spanish studies degree.

Moldova doesn't make sense unless she tromped on some toes somehow.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

and in other news tom daschle and ted kennedy threatened a filibuster the nomination fearing she may be pro life and refuse to allow a vote until she turns over her high school diary

[BMCDA]

I know, I'm pretty familiar with Istoria României ;^)

[Verginius Rufus]

So...is there any point to an independent Moldova? Should Romania and Moldova reunite, or is it is like Germany and Austria (despite a common language, historical reasons for separate identities)? Is Moldova just too poor for the Romanians to want it, or do the Moldovans want to be separate?

[Solon]

But maybe there are some issues there similar to her native state of Ohio.

Good point. Must be Cleveland.

[BMCDA]

I don't know. They're both poor although Romania is somewhat better off.
Maybe they reunite in a not so distant future, there certainly are political forces who want it, but to be honest, I couldn't care less.

[Ax]

In the State Department, the "worker bees" usually go to the Foreign Service Institute for language training. Those with extant language skills, as in the case of the Ambassador-designate, deploy to Spanish-speaking countries. As one works one's way up the ladder one can expect more embassy management jobs and being a linguist becomes less important. I suspect that Heather Hodges was sent to a five-month or so orientation course in Moldavan.

Some years ago, I was in Havana, and one of the Seabees there involved in the upgrade of USINT had been TDY to Moldava for 90 days prior to coming to Havana. He said it was absoultely the worst place he'd ever been. The poverty was, he said, incredible; it will take them generations to overcome the effects of socialism.