America in the age of the envoy

“Tension between politicians and public servants is not new.”

Understatement of the year, perhaps.

But this Alex Russell column in the Financial Times today is well worth a squiz.

“The death of the diplomat in Trump’s America” calls out the headline. It’s not just budget cutbacks or the not-too-bothered approach to filling personnel vacancies. (Hello, any word on the next US ambassador to Australia?) Russell points to the sidelining of the State Department in the various peace drives that have defined the first months of Trump’s second presidency.

“The current handling of the Russia-Ukraine talks embodies this shift. Joining Steve Witkoff, the real estate developer and Donald Trump-buddy who has been America’s lead negotiator with Russia, in the latest round of talks is Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and private equity mogul. Both were key players in the quest for a lasting Middle East deal. Both, like their boss, are versed in cutting business deals, reinforcing the suspicion of European partners that securing investment opportunities is an American priority.”

As Russell goes on to explain, Trump prefers the short-circuit option. “He can pick up the phone to them and bypass the State Department with its reminders of the complexities of statecraft.”

Trump’s emphasis on envoys deserves more credit than it gets. Tangled diplomatic “process” and endless communiqué-finessing can obstruct peace more than advance the cause. The South China Sea Code of Conduct negotiations, for example, have dragged on for decades with nothing to show. Sometimes breakthrough requires an empowered individual willing to ignore precedent. (Russell cites Richard Holbrooke’s role as presidential envoy in the former Yugoslavia, noting that he was also a one-time diplomat.)

Russell thinks in the end this approach will bite the administration on the proverbial rump. “Is anyone in Washington paying attention, for example, to the deteriorating state of Afghanistan or the Sahel and the risk of their becoming centres of terrorism?” Indeed, in support of Russell’s concern that the cost of “America First” will be to leave America Alone, some of those spurned partners might turn diplomatic niceties back on the United States. South Africa refused to make a ceremonial handover of the G20 presidency to a US chargé d’affaires at the weekend leaders’ summit after Trump boycotted the talks. Instead, Pretoria waited to assign a diplomat of equal rank at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation – a pointed use of protocol as rebuke.

Russell’s comment about the role now given to American diplomats also struck me: “to tell foreign delegations to prioritise three things: mineral deals, accommodating America’s unwanted migrants, and evidence of how they can back Trump’s quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.”

For Australia, the minerals deal is done. Trump eventually came around on migrants after that infamous phone call with Malcolm Turnbull in his first term. Which leaves the Nobel Prize. Any ideas?