# What does the US ambassador to Fiji do all day? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435 "2016-01-28T00:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/41 "2016-02-03T19:33:13Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Why is this in Cafe society? Because “Fiji” is a fictional place? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/42 "2016-02-23T02:42:27Z")
I am guessing she is very busy with the recent cyclone > **[Death Toll Rises to 42 in Fiji Following Tropical Cyclone Winston | The...](https://weather.com/news/weather/news/tropical-cyclone-winston-impacts-pacific-fiji)** > > The strongest cyclone on record in Fiji has killed more than 40 people. Here's the latest. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com Brian ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/43 "2016-02-23T03:50:00Z")
He or she fights mermaids. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/44 "2016-02-23T16:05:21Z")
The Fijian question having been answered, > [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I’m even more curious about what the Paraguayan ambassador to Slovenia does all day? It seems that there is no such person. Paraguay maintains diplomatic missions in 12 European states, but not Slovenia. Paraguay has an embassy in Taipei, not in Beijing. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/45 "2016-02-24T15:23:13Z")
This feels like a good spot to let our Irish Dopers know Bangkok finally has a fully fledged Irish Embassy. Opened recently. Previously, the nearest one was in Kuala Lumpur. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/46 "2016-02-24T16:32:39Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This feels like a good spot to let our Irish Dopers know Bangkok finally has a fully fledged Irish Embassy. Opened recently. Previously, the nearest one was in Kuala Lumpur. My flatmate visits that part of the world a lot so I’ll tell her. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/47 "2016-02-24T18:59:43Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > The US, being a superpower and all, would surely have work to be done anywhere in the world… so I’m even more curious about what the Paraguayan ambassador to Slovenia does all day? I believe that only the USA, the UK, France, China and to a lesser extent Russia have embassies pretty much everywhere. A small country like Paraguay is likely to have embassies only in countries very significant for Paraguay, and regional embassies that cover a whole bunch a countries. Keeping an extensive diplomatic network is very costly. I picked a random example and found that the highest ranking Swedish “diplomat” in Gambia is an honorary consul (who is likely to be unpaid and a Gambian with ties with Sweden rather than a Swede), and that there’s a grand total of 43 foreign representations in Gambia, most of them probably being of the same low level. Nearby and much larger Senegal has twice as much, but there also the Swedish representation is only an honorary consul. It seems that the nearest Swedish embassy is in Mali and probably covers the whole west-African area. ETA : I see that wikipedia has lists of diplomatic representations. Paraguay has 11 embassies in Europe (Austria, Belgium which is probably more an embassy to the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK). You can can note the distinck lack of embassies in the Balkans, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Presumably the ambassador in Germany or Austria is accredited to the Slovenian government and a whole lot of others states. It has 3 for the whole of Africa (Egypt, South-Africa and Morocco). Slovenia has two embassies in Latin America : in Brazil and in Argentina. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/48 "2016-02-26T01:11:26Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > My flatmate visits that part of the world a lot so I’ll tell her. [Here’s their website.](https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/thailand/) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/49 "2016-02-26T02:05:52Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > From the ambassador, passed through one of her staff: > I appreciate that she responded. Yes, thanks! But I think the essence of the question wasn’t answered, which was about the day-to-day life of the ambassador. How much discretion do they normally get in setting up their day? E.g. if the ambassador decides one day that playing golf with the local power plant managers will aid in achieving long-term energy policies, will they be trusted and allowed to proceed or will a micromanaging supervisor in DC be calling them and threatening to put the ambassador on a Performance Improvement Plan if they are not back at their desk filling out Trade Possibility Speculation (TPS) reports within the hour, and they’d better use the right cover sheets this time too? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/50 "2016-02-26T11:51:24Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > . so I’m even more curious about what the Paraguayan ambassador to Slovenia does all day? Those two don’t have embassies in each others countries, they each have consulate services offices. I take that to mean there is no such ambassador. But back to Fiji Judith Cefkin became the U.S. Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu on January 5, 2015. “The Pacific islands, and Fiji in particular, offer real potential for U.S. trade and investment, especially in tourism and the sale of consumer goods. One of Embassy Suva’s top priorities is U.S. business promotion. We have a very active Commercial Section, which aggressively seeks to create trade links between U.S. and local companies in the region” The Military Attache also has responsibilities for New Caledonia ,French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435/51 "2016-02-26T15:20:12Z")
I called the cops on the Fijian finance minister in Honolulu one night. It was when I worked the front desk at Hale Manoa Residence Hall of the East West Center at the University of Hawaii. There was some event about Fiji being held, sponsored by Fijian students, and the finance minister was a guest. He got drunk as a skunk at a party upstairs in one of the common rooms, strumming the guitar and singing off key loudly at 3am. Residents were complaining, so many that I had no choice but to call the cops, because the party would just not stop. At first he ignored them, just acted like they were ghosts and he couldn’t see them. Kept on strumming and singing. But the cops finally got him to go off to bed. This one Fijian student was angry with me for calling the cops and kept saying he was going to have my job for this. I told him to be my guest. What he didn’t know was it was my last night anyway. I was graduating and preparing to move back to Thailand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-us-ambassador-to-fiji-do-all-day/744435.md?page=2)