Marie Yovanovitch: former ambassador warns of 'amoral' US foreign policy

[Judi Lynn]

She cited a need for the country to be ‘principled, consistent and trustworthy’ while accepting an award for diplomacy

Julian Borger in Washington
Wed 12 Feb 2020 20.56 EST

The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, has warned that the US had adopted an “amoral” foreign policy that “substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust”.

In her first public remarks since leaving the US foreign service two weeks ago, Yovanovitch said that the Trump administration’s handling of foreign policy risked alienating allies and driving them into the arms of other partners they find more reliable.

The veteran former ambassador was ousted from her post in Kyiv by Donald Trump last May, at the time the president and his associates were putting pressure on the Ukrainian government to launch investigations of Trump’s political opponents. Yovanovitch gave evidence about the pressure campaign at congressional impeachment hearings before retiring from the foreign service altogether.

“We need to be principled, consistent and trustworthy,” she said while accepting an award for diplomacy at Georgetown University. “To be blunt, an amoral, keep-them-guessing foreign policy that substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust cannot work over the long haul.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/12/marie-yovanovitch-ukraine-ambassador-speech-trump

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I hope there's a Profile in Courage award in her future

She exemplifies what our foreign service officers should always be - brave and virtuous.