Irak
27.5.2007
Iraqiberia Teaches
phil
Finland for Thought
The Finns have this kind of a saying: “Siberia Teaches”,
from the time of the Russian Empire if you were a civil servant who disliked
your post you were sent to Siberia for a few years and then if you were lucky
you could return. Somehow the whining stopped. Well, it seems that the US
government is using a hot place instead of the cold one. HS International
Edition on 18.5 wrote of one William Davnie, a former Press and Cultural
Affairs Counsellor at the United States Embassy in Helsinki wrote a piece for
the November 2006 issue of Foreign Service Journal.
Davnie wrote that most of the politically-appointed ambassadors are
“profoundly handicapped in fulfilling their new duties”, regardless of the
success of their former careers. They tend to alienate the local public with
political talking points that are born out of the domestic political debate,
fail to “switch mental gears” for the new milieu or make a connection there,
and do not have a sufficient grasp of important issues. He also expressed a
measure of sympathy for their plight in stepping from the radically-different
corporate executive world into that of slow-moving diplomatic routines. Davnie
added that the time of embassy staff is taken up in averting or smoothing over
the faux pas of non-career ambassadors and getting them up to speed with local
matters.
Note the former press Councellor.
“A position was offered to him to serve in Iraq and he took it”, said Davnie’s
successor Chad Peterson on behalf of the Ambassador. Before coming to Finland,
Davnie had learned to speak fluent Finnish, which he managed to use in
Helsinki for less than two years before his instant transfer to Iraq.
Where he probably could have used his talent in private conversations with
the Governor of Najaf. No wonder he decided for early retirement.
So, I guess Siberia and Iraq are high on the Pisa-scores whan it comes to
civil servants no-whine training.
Iraqiberia
