Ever since Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice announced a revised policy of “forward deployment” for our foreign service staff i.e. that more diplomats would actually be stationed in emerging countries and, in those countries, in places other than the capital city, I’ve been waiting for Dr. Demarche, a career diplomat, to give us his reactions to the change.
Our wait is over and his observations are here and they strike me as eminently sensible. Short version: where diplomats are stationed makes little difference unless they get out of the embassies and have some actual contact with local people.
