My my my. It IS expensive to become an ambassador, isn't it?
I have this vague nebulous feeling that you can tell which ones are career foreign service people going to places they've actually, you know, heard of and maybe know a little something about, and the ones that aren't. A few people donated nothing whatsoever!
A very very few.
People who didn't contribute tend to be headed to low-prestige and/or high maintenance posts, or places with reasonable chances of someone lobbing sometihng explosive at you. Places like Belize or Yemen. Russia is probably low on the contributions and prestige list because nobody sane wants to be there these days, including many of the Russians themselves. Israel, these days, would be an utterly thankless position, as would Congo. (Either one, but especially the DPRC.) Nearly every single person with a $0 by their name is a career diplomat who can be presumed to actually have a clue or two. Conversely, nobody who gave a noticeable sum seems to have much direct experience in the field; then again, if you're out making money, when would you have time to actually learn to be a diplomat of that sort?
Just to eyeball it, looks like the going price for an ambassadorship is around $75,000-$100,000. Although I do just wonder how that guy managed to sneak in for Australia. Not only did he pay a grand total of only $4,000 in contributions, but he actually gave half of that to the Democrats ... Oh, I see. He was with Bush II during the whole Texas Rangers thing. He gets by with a little help from his friends.
And what the hell is going on in Mauritius that would make it worth more than half a million? I mean, yes, it's reportedly quite a lovely place, but half a mil worth of lovely?
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!