A serious trust has been breached on two levels. First, by WikiLeaks so that nary a foreign contact will wish ever to speak, or at least speak with candor, to even the lowliest Foreign Service personnel. But second, also by the notion, and the threat to life and limb, that we use our Foreign Service personnel as low-cost spies.
Fidel Castro returns to Cuban TV (NPR) After so very few public appearances since intestinal surgery in 2006, this was news indeed. Fidel Castro appeared on Mesa Redonda, a prominent talk show on Cuban television, to discuss world events. His comments included an accusation that the United States was the culprit in the sinking of […]
Mari Carmen Aponte (shown above right) has been down this road before. This time it does not look like she is backing down—yet. Senate Republicans (including Senator Jim DeMint, above left) are blocking approval of the Obama administration’s nomination of Aponte to the post of Ambassador to El Salvador, claiming concern over her past ties […]