Although there are exceptions, as a general rule, people who make it to ambassador level appointments tend not to be the type who would say, “Aw, fuck it. I’m getting paid whether I’m in my office or on the beach.”
Even if someone is a political appointee, rather than a career diplomat, they probably had to work their butt off to gather so much in campaign contributions or whatever. Most humans don’t go from type A political organizer to beach bum just because they got a job with a good title. In my experience, though not as extensive as some who have already responded, ambassadors are much more likely to take themselves much too seriously than not seriously at all.
In any case, I would expect that the ambassador to Fiji does the same things every ambassador does: meet with local officials, NGOs, and others; coordinate US interests with business and trade, as well as foreign aid and development projects; act as the main point of contact for anything Fiji has to say to the US, and so on.
The last time I was at the American Embassy in Fiji they were very concerned about the stability of the Fijian government. It was kinda of a tense feeling. But then again, all of the embassies I’ve ever been to are that way. There is always some concern or another. I don’t think the ambassador ever has time to go screwing about on the beach.
One of the US ambassadors I was around for was called, behind his back, “Ambassador Blowhard.” (I’m not going to give his name, but suffice it to say that this nickname was a nice play on his actual moniker.)
I hear the wheels-up party when he left was a thing of beauty.
The first half of Joe Wilson’s book The Politics of Truth is an enjoyable memoir of the working life of a career diplomat. He was Ambassoror to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe after becoming a serious badass during the leadup to the first Gulf War.
The ones likely to be able to spend their lives in idle leisure are going to be ambassadors from one corrupt nation to another corrupt nation. In those cases ambassador positions are based purely on the family you belong to rather than merit, and the Ambassador will spend most of his time taking bribes in order to set up connections for business men or getting favorable trade deals.
Well, Fiji has had about four military coups in the last 30 years and subsequent military governments have repeatedly suspended democracy, had a huge exodus of their Indian population {who owned many of the businesses and were responsible for much the country’s revenue}, been kicked out of the Commonwealth for refusing to reinstate free elections {and had their athletes suspended from Commonwealth competition} been accused of unjust imprisonment and torture of dissenters and democratic activists, government censorship of the press and abuse, harassment and imprisonment of local and foreign journalists, and faced an downturn in vital tourism revenue due to continued unrest, and a economic decline as the country continues to be seen as volatile and unstable. But yeah, in Mangosteen’s happy little world, the US ambassador was probably drinking mai-tais on the beach through all of that.
I worked for a couple of real lulus myself. One was a FOB (Friend of Bill) and the other was career. The FOB and her husband loved to throw tantrums and spend money that didn’t belong to them. The career guy loved to act like he was an eccentric, when he was actually just an asshole.
Maybe I’ve been reading too much LeCarre lately, but wouldn’t diplomats have intelligence duties on the “side”? Might not amount to much in Fiji, but …who knows?
That’s a well-worn trope. Any expat with the least bit of odd behavior or brusqueness is open to speculation by bored and excitable locals that they are CIA - I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve heard that charge leveled. It might be true one out of 500 times.
How much of their time is spent training and evaluating junior staff? I imagine this must vary immensely, particularly between career ambassadors and political appointees and depend upon the size of the embassy.
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We collaborate with Pacific communities to strengthen their ability to respond to the effects of climate change.
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I am reminded of a Red Dwarf episode in which a discussion of Fiji includes the fact it’s highest point is now 4 feet below sea level. I’m stupid. But it’s awesome we (meaning Frank) were able to get a factual answer from the source to sort of a flip question.
