Cable Forum
Page 6 of 7 « First 2345 6 7
Show 100 post(s) from this thread on one page

Cable Forum (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/index.php)
-   Current Affairs (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=20)
-   -   UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33707857)

denphone 15-07-2019 08:11
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
He said it as it is which was frank , blunt and to the point even though l am no fan of him personally.

OLD BOY 15-07-2019 08:16
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 36002684)
What about Trump’s comments about Theresa May - were they "overt"?
I don’t excuse Trump for anything but he’s not an ambassador!

---------- Post added at 08:16 ---------- Previous post was at 08:15 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by denphone (Post 36002687)
He said it as it is which was frank , blunt and to the point even though l am no fan of him personally.
Correct, hence the criticism.

denphone 15-07-2019 08:21
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY (Post 36002688)
I don’t excuse Trump for anything but he’s not an ambassador!
Ambassadors are told to be frank and blunt as that is a part of their job.

Maggy 15-07-2019 08:27
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 36002681)
Difference being, nothing you wrote was classified intelligence at a nation state level.

The Ambassador’s briefings to his Government need to be clear, not need deciphering to try and guess at what he means.

Anyway, we have only seen excerpts of the emails, not the full text - colour me surprised if the DM has printed the bits that sound inflammatory, but in context sound reasonable.
:tu:

---------- Post added at 08:27 ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 ----------

What any government seeks from it's ambassadors is an honest and frank appraisal of a situation which is why they are private and NOT for public consumption. If ambassadors start editing their correspondence to the government then they become useless as a source of information.

nomadking 15-07-2019 09:14
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1 (Post 36002676)
Old Boy, you need to bring along more of that admirable approach when posting here.
1. It was not overt, it was highly confidential.
2. The langusge used was diplomatic ie very clear for busy people.
3. It wasn't an outburst, it was a series of reports compiled by the ambassador's team.
4. The Don is thin skinned so would likely be offended by anything less than praise.
So how many FACTS were there, as opposed to unsubstantiated opinions? Eg How would the ambassador know what was or wasn't going on in Iran?

Maggy 15-07-2019 10:44
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomadking (Post 36002701)
So how many FACTS were there, as opposed to unsubstantiated opinions? Eg How would the ambassador know what was or wasn't going on in Iran?
Rather more than you I suspect because he has access to people that you don't.;)

Chris 15-07-2019 11:00
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Being the most senior posting in the entire diplomatic service, the British ambassador to the USA has normally got a contact book with telephone numbers spanning the entire world. He has formal and informal relationships of every kind, developed over a career spanning decades. He also has a senior MI6 station chief in Washington on speed dial. To even attempt to use a little Internet forum like this to argue that someone in his position is in the business of peddling unsubstantiated opinions is absurd.

TheDaddy 15-07-2019 11:19
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 36002684)
What about Trump’s comments about Theresa May - were they "overt"?
Funny isn't it how all those people demanding we respect the office of president have gone quiet since our own PM was attacked

Like I said the other day rather than accept his resignation I'd have preferred him to have been recalled and made a Lord

Mick 15-07-2019 11:27
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 36002722)
Funny isn't it how all those people demanding we respect the office of president have gone quiet since our own PM was attacked

Like I said the other day rather than accept his resignation I'd have preferred him to have been recalled and made a Lord
By crikey, Trump referred to her as "foolish", she has been - nothing to defend her with here and you can respect the office of PM while still criticising her performance. :rolleyes:

Damien 15-07-2019 11:35
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 36002722)
Funny isn't it how all those people demanding we respect the office of president have gone quiet since our own PM was attacked

Like I said the other day rather than accept his resignation I'd have preferred him to have been recalled and made a Lord
To be fair we don't really have a culture of respecting the office of the PM do we? We don't stand for the PM. There is no ceremony around the position itself.

Our equivalent would be the Queen we do have a culture of respecting that for the same reason as respecting the Office of the President - that they're the Head of State.

It's generally bad form for a world leader to criticise another when they're allies though.

nomadking 15-07-2019 12:10
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maggy J (Post 36002714)
Rather more than you I suspect because he has access to people that you don't.;)
He would only have access to info on a need-to-know basis. He wouldn't need to know about Iran. Any discussions on those matters would be done direct, not via the embassy.

Did he mention that there was info he was privy to that influenced his opinions? Or was he simply going along with the anti-Trump rhetoric?
Link
Quote:
Iran has breached the limit on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium set under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a watchdog has confirmed.
If all they needed for reasonable use was within the limits of the deal, why the need to increase it?
Quote:
A stockpile of 1,050kg, however, could be further enriched later into enough material to build one bomb, according to the Arms Control Association.
...
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, but experts say 20% enriched uranium is most of the way to weapons-grade uranium. That is because going from uranium's natural state of 0.7% concentration of U-235 to 20% takes approximately 90% of the total effort required to get to weapons-grade.
The Arak reactor is also a proliferation risk because if it is not redesigned it will produce spent fuel containing plutonium, which could be used for a nuclear bomb.
Link
Quote:
Before July 2015, Iran had a large stockpile of enriched uranium and almost 20,000 centrifuges, enough to create eight to 10 bombs, according to the Obama administration.
US experts estimated then that if Iran had decided to rush to make a bomb, it would take two to three months until it had enough 90%-enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon - the so-called "break-out time".

pip08456 15-07-2019 14:20
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomadking (Post 36002731)
He would only have access to info on a need-to-know basis. He wouldn't need to know about Iran. Any discussions on those matters would be done direct, not via the embassy.

Did he mention that there was info he was privy to that influenced his opinions? Or was he simply going along with the anti-Trump rhetoric?
Link
If all they needed for reasonable use was within the limits of the deal, why the need to increase it?
Link
Not sure you're correct there. If he knew nothing about Iran how could he advise on the US stance and policy going forward.

ianch99 15-07-2019 14:39
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36002718)
Being the most senior posting in the entire diplomatic service, the British ambassador to the USA has normally got a contact book with telephone numbers spanning the entire world. He has formal and informal relationships of every kind, developed over a career spanning decades. He also has a senior MI6 station chief in Washington on speed dial. To even attempt to use a little Internet forum like this to argue that someone in his position is in the business of peddling unsubstantiated opinions is absurd.
Chris is so right here. Anyone who thinks the US ambassador should not be frank and candid with his/her Executive is living in cloud cuckoo land.

That is it. End Of. Any objections to what he said are just down to the political prejudices of the author.

nomadking 15-07-2019 15:09
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pip08456 (Post 36002744)
Not sure you're correct there. If he knew nothing about Iran how could he advise on the US stance and policy going forward.
That just it, he couldn't know anything. Which is why his comments are biased opinion, just as others at the time said exactly the same sort of thing. Those others certainly didn't know anything. It would not have been pertinent to the role of Ambassador to know anything of that nature. Let's face it, if Iran was previously determined to get weapon grade Uranium, that determination wouldn't suddenly stop.



If he had said something like "I'm puzzled by the President's decision, considering what we know for certain.", that would have been a different matter.

---------- Post added at 15:09 ---------- Previous post was at 15:08 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by ianch99 (Post 36002747)
Chris is so right here. Anyone who thinks the US ambassador should not be frank and candid with his/her Executive is living in cloud cuckoo land.

That is it. End Of. Any objections to what he said are just down to the political prejudices of the author.
So what inside FACTS did he know and express?

ianch99 15-07-2019 15:20
Re: UK ambassador to the USA resigns over leaked cables
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomadking (Post 36002755)
That just it, he couldn't know anything. Which is why his comments are biased opinion, just as others at the time said exactly the same sort of thing. Those others certainly didn't know anything. It would not have been pertinent to the role of Ambassador to know anything of that nature. Let's face it, if Iran was previously determined to get weapon grade Uranium, that determination wouldn't suddenly stop.



If he had said something like "I'm puzzled by the President's decision, considering what we know for certain.", that would have been a different matter.

---------- Post added at 15:09 ---------- Previous post was at 15:08 ----------

So what inside FACTS did he know and express?
FACTS? What acronym is this? Found this, may help :

https://www.acronymfinder.com/FACTS.html

I quite like:

Quote:
FACTS: Foreign Asset Control Tracking System
seems appropriate ..

Seriously, you think you are able to objectively question that he does and does not know?


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 14:20.
Page 6 of 7 « First 2345 6 7
Show 100 post(s) from this thread on one page

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.