George Kennan was perhaps the greatest American diplomat. An East European expert, it was Kennan who slapped American policy makers out of their obtuseness toward the emerging threat Stalin’s Soviet Union posed to the West. Kennan was the architect of Containment Strategy, initially designed as a delicate balance between discouraging Soviet aggression while avoiding World War III, which most understood to be in nobody’s interest.
Underwriting the entire franchise, particularly during the dangerously fluid years immediately following WWII was the fine art of US-European diplomacy, dedicated to the consolidation of NATO and the establishment of a global system of trade. Diplomacy was key because the US had emerged as preeminent and would need to demand many things of many people and countries. They couldn’t be ordered, but rather had to be tactfully instructed on the benefits of multilateral relationships subordinate to an overall vision of collective security. Nothing could be taken for granted, and the contributions of all had to be appreciated, each to his unique capabilities.
It’s worth noting how successful those diplomatic efforts were. Seventy-five years later, Europe remains at peace and the trade system underwritten by the Marshall Plan produced relative prosperity throughout the decades. And Kennan’s Containment paradigm? Despite plenty of mistakes it’s open-endedness surely encouraged, Vietnam chief among them, it resulted in the collapse of Soviet power while sparing the world another global military catastrophe.
Of course moving forward within today’s disparate geopolitical systems and augmenting many outdated elements of European collective security was always going to require a deft touch and bold, intelligent diplomacy. Tragically, those qualities are slim and none at Foggy Bottom these days…. and slim blew town a while back. Exhibit A of the dearth of this Administration’s diplomatic talent is Richard Grenell, our preposterous Ambassador to Germany.
While the President’s bafoonery in Britain, France, Brussels and Helsinki inevitably garnered most of the headlines, Grenell’s day in and day out tactlessness has been impossible to ignore. As recklessly prolific a tweeter as Trump, Grenell was literally hours into his new assignment when he tweeted German companies still doing business in Iran better close up shop. It was stunningly inappropriate and earned him immediate scorn which he has done nothing to mollify.
Whether it’s been cheering on right wing opponents of the Merkel government or threatening sanctions for German companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which Trump seems to oppose more as a means to counter charges he shills for Putin than any substantive reasons, Grenell has been condemned by both sides of Germany’s political aisle for “outrageous” conduct that has actually violated established diplomatic principles. A paid contributor at Fox News and frequent guest of Tucker Carlson, Grenell has responded to the widespread criticism by simply labeling it “fake news,” and claiming he is attacked because of progressive disdain for current US policy.
In fact, Der Spegiel, a prominent German weekly, published a profile of Grenell in January based on a wide plethora of sources in and out of the government. The picture it painted was of an isolated Trumpie, more alt right provocateur than emissary, a brittle, thin-skinned narcissist with no support anywhere other than the far right fringes he openly flirts with.
It’s not hyperbolic to say the US Ambassador to perhaps our most important ally is detested by all except neo-facsists. And what does Trump have to say about his man in Berlin’s job performance, even as a growing bipartisan group of German politicians actually call for his expulsion? Three words… United Nations Ambassador. With Foxette Heather Neuart pulling the plug on her appointment – apparently the result of an undocumented nanny – Grenell is said to be near the top of Trump’s list to replace her. That would be a promotion Grenell has hardly earned, unless the criteria is merely mimicking the boss.
Those less than alarmed when Trump was elected swore whatever frailties he suffered as a statesman would be countered by qualified people who would be appointed to carry out the nuts and bolts of policy. James Mattis, HR McMaster, Nicky Haley, etc. were pointed to as examples of this protective backstop. They’re now long gone, and Trumpie Mike Pompeo’s State Department is tearing at the seams. This week’s conference call for the “faith-based”media only seemed directly out of an SNL cold open, hysterical if it wasn’t such a tangible symbol of yet another American institution being decimated by Trumpism’s regressive termites.
Grenell’s sorry performance in the heart of Europe clarifies the wretchedness is indeed a global malady. George Kennan was fond of saying he was less concerned about why people were doing things than how they were doing them. Our man in Germany fails at both ends of that equation. Kennan would have been a very very harsh critic of Richard Grenell. BC