FLASH
Shkruar nga *Michael Rubin
The American Enterprise Institute has published an article attacking Prime Minister Edi Rama and former US ambassador Yuri Kim. The article was prompted by rumors that Kim could be appointed ambassador to the Philippines. The article was written by a well-known name, Michael Rubin, who strongly attacked the diplomat, saying that she was a failure in Albania. It also states that Edi Rama is a populist who is following Erdogan's path.
If President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are serious about confronting China, they should deploy their best ambassadors, whether political appointees or career ambassadors, both in Beijing and Taipei, as well as in frontline states with China.
Trump started well by nominating David Purdue, a former senator with a long history with China. The same goes for George Glass, Trump's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Japan. The State Department traditionally sends career officers to other frontline states like the Philippines, Vietnam, Mongolia.
The Philippines is arguably the most important country in the South China Sea for U.S. national security. China’s “nine-dash line” may be a historical fiction, but the People’s Republic of China has used it to justify decades of aggression against coastal states and island nations. China claims islands and atolls that have always been Philippine since the United States took the territory from the Spanish in 1898 and then granted the Philippines independence in 1946.
Sadly, rumors within the State Department suggest that one of its weakest and most unsuccessful ambassadors who could soon take the title of US ambassador to Manila is Yuri Kim. She failed to receive a nomination to be assistant secretary of state for European Affairs or to be appointed ambassador to Turkey.
A mistake Trump should avoid
Yuri Kim became infamous when, on September 14, 2023, she faced harsh questions about the State Department’s policy toward Nagorno-Karabakh, after it remained passive during Azerbaijan’s illegal ten-month blockade of the Armenian-populated region. “ We will not tolerate any military action. We will not tolerate any attack on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. That is very clear ,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Five days later, Azerbaijani forces invaded Nagorno-Karabakh and ethnically cleansed its 1,700-year-old Armenian Christian population. Kim and colleagues did nothing, refusing even to label what happened as “ethnic cleansing,” preferring instead to speak of “depopulation.”
If there was ever an ambassador who personifies a paper tiger, it's Yuri Kim.
Mission to Albania
The problem wasn't just her performance as acting assistant secretary. Kim also failed as ambassador to Albania.
Albanians are pro-American and appreciate the positions of the American ambassador more than many other European countries. However, not all is well in Albanian democracy. Prime Minister Edi Rama is following the populist path of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Like Erdogan, Rama targets ethnic minorities and seeks to use political power for personal gain. It is in this context that he imprisoned Fredi Beleri, the elected mayor of one of the country's most picturesque cities.
Kim’s decision to ignore and allow Rama’s corrupt schemes to take hold, even though this arrest turned into a diplomatic crisis between Albania and Greece, damaged the Balkan integration process and cooperation, while the crisis in Ukraine erupted. The fact that Kim was openly lobbying the State Department for the post of ambassador to Turkey, at the same time as he was weighing in against Greece in a dispute, was unseemly at best.
The United States does not need another Glaspie, nor should diplomats who fail twice get a third chance at the forefront of American politics. /Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “American Enterprise Institute”
*Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, specializing in foreign policy on Iran, Turkey, and the Middle East. A former Pentagon official, Dr. Rubin has lived in post-revolutionary Iran, Yemen, and pre- and post-war Iraq. He also spent time with the Taliban before 9/11.
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