Eastern disciplines of diplomacy are often tied with Chanakya’s Arthashasthraya. The Arthaśāstra (Chanakya) and its Book I – Concerning Discipline, Chapter XVI – The Mission of Envoys say a king must consider reliability over any other things. According to guru Chanakya, we don’t even consider untrusted persons to begin with. So, foreign missions aren’t about being career diplomats. It’s all about trustworthy, reliable character with skills and talents.
So, let’s try to understand Trump’s stance over this. In recent recall, mission chiefs were affected in at least 29 countries, including 13 in Africa, as US reshapes its diplomatic posture.
The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of Donald Trump’s “America first” priorities. And as WestVU – a diplomatic reporting news agency, we think Trump should’ve taken this decision earlier this year.
The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.
All of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration but had survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump’s second term that targeted mainly political appointees. That changed on Wednesday when they began to receive notices from officials in Washington DC about their imminent departures. Those affected by the shakeup are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be returning to Washington for other assignments should they wish to take them, the officials said. It is a mandatory requirement to be politically aligned with the current administration as diplomats in US missions across the world.
The State Department declined to comment on specific numbers or ambassadors affected but defended the changes, calling them “a standard process in any administration”. It noted that an ambassador is “a personal representative of the president, and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.”
Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
Second is the Asia-Pacific region, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam are affected.
Four countries in Europe (Armenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovakia) are affected, as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt), South Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka) and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).
Politico was the first to report on the ambassadorial recalls, which have drawn concern from some lawmakers and the union representing American diplomats.
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