Explore Business Standard
US Diplomats
The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump's America First priorities. The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves. All of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration but had survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump's second term that targeted mainly political appointees. That changed on Wednesday when they began to receive notices from officials in Washington about their imminent departures. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, although they typically remain at their posts for three to four years. Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs
The Trump administration on Thursday recalled its top diplomat in Colombia for urgent consultations after recent comments from Colombia's president appearing to question the US position on an alleged plan to remove him from office. The US State Department said Thursday that the charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Bogota, John McNamara, would be returning to Washington following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the government of Colombia. Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded in kind, recalling Colombia's ambassador to Washington for consultation. He said he wants to talk to Amb. Daniel Garca Pea about progress on Colombia's priorities in the bilateral relationship. US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in statement that the administration would also be pursuing other measures to make clear our deep concern over the current state of our bilateral relationship. The statement did not elaborate on the reasons for the recall. Petro has
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will embark on what is expected to be his final overseas trip in office this weekend, travelling to South Korea, Japan and France. The State Department announced Friday that Blinken would visit Seoul, Tokyo and Paris beginning Sunday. He will return to Washington early Thursday in time to attend the funeral services for former president Jimmy Carter, officials said. In South Korea, which is in the midst of a political turmoil following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japan, Blinken intends to highlight the expansion of US cooperation with both nations as part of the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific strategy. That strategy is primarily intended to blunt Chinese ambitions in the region but also to deter the nuclear threat from North Korea. Political developments in South Korea, however, after Yoon declared martial law and was later impeached, have raised questions about the stability of Washington-Seoul relations. The US has tak
Growing up in Miami among Cuban exiles who fled Fidel Castro's revolution, Sen. Marco Rubio developed a deep hatred of communism. Now as President-elect Donald Trump's choice for America's top diplomat, he's set to bring that same ideological ammunition to reshaping US policy in Latin America. As the first Latino secretary of state, Rubio is expected to devote considerable attention to what has long been disparagingly referred to as Washington's backyard. The top Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a longtime member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he's leveraged his knowledge and unmatched personal relationships to drive US policy in the region for years. For decades since the end of the Cold War, Latin America has faded from the US foreign policy agenda even as US adversaries like Russia, Iran and especially China have made deep inroads. If confirmed, the Florida Republican is likely to end the neglect. But Rubio's reputation as a national security ha
The relationship between India and the US is not just "addictive", it is "multiplicative", US envoy to India Eric Garcetti has said. Garcetti also said that the relationship between the two countries has never been so good. The Indian-American community is the most successful immigrant community in America. He made these remarks on Monday at an event on the sidelines of the SelectUSA Investment Summit, to which the largest delegation is from India. This (India US) is a relationship that isn't just additive. It's not just the US plus India. It's multiplicative. It's the United States times India, Garcetti said on the sidelines of the summit, to which the largest delegation is from India. The SelectUSA Investment Summit is the highest-profile event in the US to facilitate business investment by connecting thousands of investors, companies, economic development organisations (EDOs), and industry experts to make deals happen. Garcetti was speaking at the event wherein India's JSW Stee
After issuing a record 1,40,000 student visas last year, the US consular team in India is all geared up to meet the expected rise in number of applications from Indian students in 2024, with a senior official at the embassy here saying that the projected total number this year will be "similar or in excess" in comparison to last year. The US Mission in India on Thursday held its eighth annual Student Visa Day countrywide with consular officers from New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai interviewing Indian student visa applicants. At the US Embassy in Delhi, a long queue of students was seen since morning. American universities attract a large number of Indian students, and last year, the US consular team in India issued over 1,40,000 student visas -- higher than for any other country setting a record for the third year in a row. Syed Mujtaba Andrabi, acting Consul General at US Embassy in New Delhi, in an interaction with PTI at the embassy, said, "by the end of the da
Sweden's defense chief has expressed alarm over Beijing's repeated dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, saying such actions threaten security, undermine stability and underscore the need to invest for our security and freedom. Defense Minister Pl Jonson spoke Thursday night in a diplomatic reception in Manila for Sweden's national day after meeting his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., on expanding defense relations. Sweden is one of the possible sources of supersonic fighter jets that the Philippines plans to acquire as its military shifts focus from decades of fighting communist and Muslim insurgencies to territorial defense. Let me express my deep concern on the repeated dangerous maneuvers against Philippines vessels that have been taking place in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, Jonson said. He did not mention China in his speech but drew applause from an audience that included top Philippine military and security ...
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the Middle East on his seventh diplomatic mission to the region since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began more than six months ago, the State Department said Saturday. Blinken is traveling to Saudi Arabia on Monday, just two days since arriving back in Washington after a trip to China. Blinken will attend a World Economic Forum conference and meet with Arab foreign ministers in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. An Israeli foreign ministry official says Blinken will visit Israel on Tuesday, a stop not mentioned in the State Department's announcement about Blinken's itinerary. His latest Mideast trip, on the heels of meetings in China with President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking officials, comes as the war grinds on, with more than 34,000 Palestinians killed, hundreds of thousands displaced and a steadily worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. In the surprise attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the war, about 1,200
What do the good Q2 GDP numbers tell us? What lessons does the Silkyara tunnel fiasco teach? Why are investors betting big on IPOs? What made Henry Kissinger important? All answers here
