The Canadian ambassador to France happened to be a friend of mine. I knew him from his previous posting as Canadian ambassador in Washington. He remains the finest foreign service officer of ANY country I have ever met. We got together sometimes while I was in Paris. At the Residence (as opposed to the embassy), he had photos on the reception room's piano of the heads of state he had served under, with Bill Clinton, his last posting before France, featured prominently. On one occasion, the new American ambassador, some Bush toady chosen because he and Bush liked horses, was over at the Canadian embassy residence. The guy spoke no French (of course), and nor did his wife. My friend, being from Québec, was fully bilingual, of course. At the reception, the new US Ambassador's wife noticed the photos on the piano. She started exclaiming that a photo of George W. Bush was missing. My friend explained that no, Bush was not missing at all. He had never served as ambassador under Bush, and so his photo wasn't there. This woman, having all the social graces of a rabid hyena, insisted that he have a photo of Bush on the piano, having no understanding why he wasn't there in the first place. He made no effort to acquire a photo of Bush, but she wasn't going to let him off that easily. She obtained one for him, which he put out on occasions when he knew she'd be there. He WAS, after all, a professional diplomat.
Why we have to send total social misfits to be our top diplomatic emissaries, I'll never understand. Sure, if you want to reward some idle contributor rich person with an ambassadorship, you get them one. To the Bahamas or Trinidad, or whatever. NOT to France, the UK, Germany, Brazil, India, and sure as hell not to Russia or China. I wonder if Kushner even knows how many countries there are between the Eastern border of France and the western border of the Ukraine? (If he's reading this and scratching his head, the answer is two, Chuckie boy--that's why guys like you do not belong as our ambassador to France).
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